Sailor Moon's American Dream
by Tom Sewell
Summary: Usagi is lost in the United States, where they don't even believe she can be Japanese.
1. Default Chapter Title

**Sailor Moon's American Dream**  
A **Sailor Moon** fan fiction by [**Thomas Sewell**][1]. 

..... = a thought quotation   
Eigo = English  
Gaijin = Foreigner (to a Japanese)  
Ginzuishou = the Silver Crystal, source of Sailor Moon's most powerful magic.  
Otousan, tousan = father  
Okasan, kaasan = mother  
Sarariman = "Salary Man," a white-collar worker for a big corporation. 

**Chapter One: American Dream**

TSUKINO USAGI returned to her home from school with no more than her usual worries. The first thing she did was, of course, call out to her mother to ask if there was any mail. It had been a week since her last letter from Mamo-chan, her boyfriend. But to her surprise, her father answered from upstairs. "No, there isn't any mail for you today.

"_Otousan_, what are you doing home? Are you sick today?" Usagi's father had been an independent photographer, but a changing photography market and failed investments had forced him to become a _sarariman_ who usually worked long hours; it was now very unusual to have him home on a weekday afternoon.

"No, Usako. Come up here, please. We have something to talk about."

_What is it? Mamo-chan?_ Her father liked Mamoru well enough as a person, but he still thought Usagi was too young to be dating a steady boyfriend--not even mama had told him they were really engaged. Trouble at school? Usagi wasn't a very good student, but her grades had improved to average in most things.

She found her father in her parents' room. He was packing a suitcase. "_Otousan_, are you going somewhere?"

Her father answered, "Yes, Usako. I'm going to America. I have to replace someone in our American branch."

"When will you be back?"

"I won't be back."

"_Tousan_--" Usagi remembered hearing from Ami how suddenly her father had left, and unconsciously shifted to the childish _tousan_ from the more correct _otousan_.

"We're going to live there," said her father. "I'll send for you as soon as I find a place for us to live."

"Oh . . . This is so sudden."

"That's what your mother said. But when you work for a company, you have to go where they want you." He sounded very sad, very old . . . The suitcase was almost full. He looked at the framed pictures on the dresser, picking up first one and another, trying to decide which he would take. He selected one that showed Usagi with her mother and her brother Shingo, and Chibi-Usa--and Mamo-chan. "I'm sorry you'll be away from your cousin and your friends. But you'll be able to see your boyfriend sometimes. I understand this Stanford is not very far from San Francisco." He shook his head and put the picture in the suitcase. "But you are not going to be seeing him all the time. There are some good schools there. You will be going to one of them. So, work harder on your _Eigo_, Usako, you will need it."

* * *

USAGI WAS BOTH happy and unhappy. She would be getting to see Mamo-chan often--Umino and Ami knew a lot about Stanford, which was in the "Silicon Valley." They were both computer geniuses, and they told her it was close enough to San Francisco to go there and come back the same day by bus or train. But Usagi would be leaving everyone else behind. And, of course, Usagi was Sailor Moon. Who would protect Juuban and the rest of Tokyo from all the monsters and evil wizards who kept showing up?

Haruka, Sailor Uranus, dismissed that fear. "Don't worry. There haven't been any attacks for awhile. And if we have more trouble, we can find someone else who can cry and run away just as well as you do." But when the day came when Usagi and her mother and brother finally got on their plane and took a last look back, she was surprised that the tough, mannish older girl was crying worse than any of the other _senshi_ who had come to see her off. 

* * *

USAGI HAD THOUGHT they would be living in San Francisco, one of the few places in America she knew _anything_ about, but the house that her father got for them was in a tiny town she had never heard of, far up the hills on the other side of San Francisco Bay. It was a very nice house with a big yard, nicer than their home in the _Juubangai_, but not nearly as nice as most of the others--there were a lot of mansions in this place, called Kensington, or _kin-sin-tan_, in Usagi's halting _Eigo_.

Usagi became lonely most of the time. There were only a few Japanese at the private school her father put her in, and they had all been in America for a long time and spoke English without thinking. None of them seemed to like her much, and it was difficult to get to know anyone else. Mamo-chan visited most Sundays, but they were never alone together for very long, thanks to her parents. He was studying very hard and doing well, which made Usagi feel stupid and unworthy of him. She couldn't call her old friends very much; letters were never enough, and she still hadn't gotten the hang of using e-mail.

The only attention she seemed to get at school was unwelcome. Some boys kept making passes at her, even though she kept showing everyone her ring and saying "Engaged." Some of them began calling her "old Inagajudo," making fun of her English and her loyalty to Mamoru at the same time. She was tempted to transform and blast them just a little, but Usagi had grown up enough to realize that, while Tsukino Usagi could still do foolish things, Sailor Moon shouldn't.

Usagi really tried to do better at school, mostly because of Mamoru, but all that sitting up at night studying seemed to do was make her go to sleep in class more. Finally, she got a note to take home: her grades were so poor, they didn't want her to stay.

Being Tsukino Usagi--or Usagi Tsukino, as Americans seemed to insist--she was never that far from a foolish decision. She made a very foolish one: Instead of going home to face her parents, she decided to go to Mamoru's place. It was difficult getting there; several hours of trains and buses. Tired from several nights up late, Usagi fell asleep on a train . . .

* * *

"MA'AM? MA'AM?"

Someone was talking to Usagi, very loudly. A man. A policeman. She asked him where she was and what time it was. The man looked puzzled, and turned to another policeman and a man in a suit. He said something in _Eigo_ that Usagi couldn't understand. Usagi remembered that she had spoken in Japanese, so she asked the same questions again, in the best _Eigo_ she could manage. But she lapsed back into Japanese when she realized she was not on the train. "How did I get here?"

The man in the suit answered, in Japanese. "You are in the Stanford Medical Center. The police brought you here. You don't remember what happened to you?"

"I was on the train. I fell asleep," Usagi answered in Japanese, and the man in the suit repeated it in English.

"Do you remember anything else?" asked the man in the suit.

"No. I—where is my ring? And--" Her brooch. "_The ginzuishou!"_

_"Ginzuishou?_ What is that?" asked the man in the suit.

"Ne-e-eh . . . a brooch. Heart-shaped. I have had it for long time." 

After the man in the suit translated again, the policeman said to her in English, "You didn't have any jewelry when you were found. We think someone robbed you; perhaps they took it. Was it valuable?" 

"It was to me," said Usagi.

The policeman asked, "And the ring? Was it expensive?"

Usagi answered him in her English: "It was engagement ring . . . not very fancy ring. Mamo-chan is not wealthy man."

"Mamo-chan?" asked the man in the suit.

Usagi switched back to Japanese. "He is my boyfriend . . . my fiance. His name is Chiba Mamoru . . . Mamoru Chiba, you would say here."

The man in the suit said, "I'm sorry . . . do you remember your name?"

"My name? It is Tsukino Usagi."

"Tsukino Usagi is your real name?"

"Yes. Why would you ask a question like that?"

"Why are you speaking Japanese?" asked the man in the suit.

"I am sorry, my _Eigo_–my _English_ not very good."

The man in the suit asked, "Where are you from?"

"I am from Japan, of course," said Usagi in Japanese.

"You grew up in Japan?" asked the man in the suit.

"Yes . . . Oh, no, my parents!"

"Your parents?"

"They must be worried about me. _Otousan_ won't let me see Mamo-chan after this . . . " She began to cry. " He is studying here at Stanford. I came on the train to see him. _Otousan_ will blame him--"

"You did not see him here?"

"No. No, I've never been here. Mamo-chan always comes to visit my family. But today I . . . I did badly in school again and I didn't want to have _okasan_ and _otousan_ angry at me."

"Where is your family?"

"They live in Kensington now—north of here?"

"I know where it is," said the man in the suit. "They don't know, yet. We didn't know who your family was. You don't have any identification. I'm afraid whoever robbed you must have taken it . . . so, you are from Japan? What . . . " The man in the suit asked a lot more questions.

* * *

"SO, HAVE YOU FIGURED IT OUT?"

"No," said Dr. Wanatabe. "She learned Japanese somewhere, maybe even grew up in Japan--she uses too many idioms not to have spoken it for a long time."

"What, a blue-eyed blond from Japan?!! Give me a _break!"_

"It's still a possibility. A remote one, but there are a few _gaijin_ who've lived in Japan for a long time . . . Not likely, though. I think this is some sort of reaction to the robbery."

"If she was robbed."

The doctor shrugged. "I'll get her into observation."

"The bin?"

"Better than the juvenile authority. And the girl most likely has some real problems. It's justified."

* * *

Usagi woke up. Someone was speaking loudly, and she wasn't awake enough to understand it--it was part _Eigo_, part something else she didn't know. She tried to get up to get a look--and she found out she was strapped down to a gurney!

"Where are you taking me?" Usagi asked. But no one answered her. She was wheeled into an elevator. There were two men with her; they were both large and had big hands. They wore white uniforms, but Usagi didn't think they were doctors. They were speaking _Eigo_ and something else to each other, mostly something else. The sound of it was different from _Eigo_, faster and a little melodic. But there were _Eigo_ words. Usagi asked again, in _Eigo,_ "Excuse me, where are you taking me?" It actually sounded something like "_Ekascooso mi, wara aro yoo taken mi_?" One of them glanced at her for a moment, but then he went on talking to the other one.

They took her to a place with locked doors. Usagi did not have to know any _Eigo_ to know she was being put in a place with crazy people.

* * *

Dr. Wanatabe had a busy schedule. He didn't have time to visit the strange girl the police had found near the University Caltrain station for several days. The police had only called him in because he could speak some Japanese. Not _perfectly_; Dr. Watanabe's family had lived in the United States for several generations, and he had learned Japanese in school, and later on in his own time, to understand his heritage more. But there were certain things about Japanese culture he could do without, and two of them were the cartoons and comics. He had three daughters, and they were always spending their money and their time on manga and anime. He found all of them watching anime videos when they should be doing homework one evening when he came home, and he scolded them. But as he picked up the remote to turn off the VCR, he looked at the screen--and saw that the character looked like a cartoon version of the strange girl. He hit "pause" instead, and asked, "Who is that?"

"Her? That's Sailor Moon," said Molly.

"She's really famous," said Joanne.

"I want to be just like her," said Stephanie, his youngest. She held up a manga she was reading, and showed it to him.

"Can I borrow this?" asked Dr. Watanabe.

* * *

Usagi had been very frightened at first, to know she was with crazy people, but there didn't seem to be danger. But the people running the place thought she was crazy, too. None of them spoke Japanese. She caught some of them making fun of her _Eigo_, and she stopped talking much at all.

Mostly she worried about her parents and Mamoru. Why hadn't anyone come for her? Maybe Mamoru was so disappointed with her he wouldn't see her, but surely not her mother and father?

After what seemed like forever but was only four days, Dr. Watanabe finally came to see her again. Usagi was so happy to have someone to talk to, she talked very fast--and then she got a puzzled look. He said, "I cannot understand much of what you are saying. My Japanese is not very good."

"Oh?"

"I'm an American. I've never lived in Japan, only visited."

"Oh . . . Your Japanese is much better than my English."

"Thank you. I've brought a little something for you to read." He pulled a manga from his briefcase. It had Sailor Moon on the cover. Usagi thought, _Does he know I'm Sailor Moon?_ He spoke again as he handed it to her. "Sailor Moon is my daughter's favorite character. I notice that you look a lot like her. Blue eyes, blond hair--you even wear your hair the same way."

"Many girls in Japan do things like this with their hair. They are not locked up with crazy people for it!"

"No. But you do understand that Sailor Moon is just a cartoon, don't you?"

If the _gaijin_ wanted to believe that, let him. At least he didn't think she was Sailor Moon. "Yes, I understand."

"If you understand that, why do you call yourself Usagi Tsukino?"

"Tsukino Usagi. Because that is my name."

"Tsukino Usagi. Yes. That is the name of Sailor Moon from the cartoon--in Japan. They call her Serena in the English version."

"No, you are wrong. In the manga and anime, her name is Hara Reiko." _What was going on?_

"Can you show me?"

Usagi riffled through the manga--it was the first collection edition, very dog-eared. But when she got to the first Sailor Moon story, she couldn't believe it. Instead of Hara Reiko, Sailor Moon was actually called Tsukino Usagi. She read further. Her mother, her father, Shingo--in the manga and anime, they had given her two little sisters--but, no, it was just as it really was. Sailor Mercury--Ami instead of Maru--and they used Rei's real name . . . _How could they have done such a thing?_

Dr. Watanabe sat back, with a gentle smile on his face. "You aren't really Sailor Moon, and you aren't really Usagi or Serena. Now, I know you _think_ you are, but that's not true. There are times we'd all like to be someone else. You've gone further than most. But you should remember who you really are soon. Pretending is nice, but being yourself is better, most of the time."

"I don't know . . . haven't you found my parents? My boyfriend? I told--"

"There isn't any such company as Juuban Corporation. There are no families named Tsukino living in Kensington, and no one at all living at the address you gave--it does not exist. The phone number you gave us hasn't been active for several months, and it belonged to someone named Mitchell before. There is no one named Mamoru Chiba registered at Stanford University."

"But I--"

The doctor held up his hand. "I've checked with the Japanese consulate. No one with the names you have given us has been issued a Japanese passport. There are quite a number of Tsukinos living in Tokyo, but none of them fit the names and particulars you gave about your family. Now, we've sent them your fingerprints--and I've had them sent to the FBI--so if you really are from Japan, or from here, there's a good chance we'll be able to tell us who you really are. But I'd like you to tell me. Now, how old are you . . ."

* * *

After three weeks, Dr. Watanabe and some policemen took her to a court. They spent most of their time waiting. The judge finally asked to see her. Dr. Watanabe interpreted for the judge--it was funny, she had a Japanese name, Yamamoto, but she didn't speak any Japanese--although she did speak that other language Usagi had heard a lot by now, Spanish.

The Judge seemed like a nice lady, but she didn't believe Usagi's story, and by now Usagi didn't expect anyone to believe. The whole world had changed--or maybe she was really crazy.

They had gotten her books and magazines about Japan, and she saw that there just weren't any Japanese in them with blond hair or red hair or even many with brown hair, except people who wore wigs or died their hair. No one had blue or green hair, anywhere, unless it was fake.

Still, whether or not they believed her, they had to call her something. The judge asked her what she wanted to be called. Dr. Watanabe suggested, "Sue" because he had started calling her that. It was better than "Soggy," which she now knew was an _Eigo_ word meaning "wet." So, she was sent to a foster home as "Sue Kino."

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Year Gone By **

Usagi—or "Sue" as everyone insisted on calling her—started going to school again when they finally put her in a long-term foster home. It was a regular American school where everyone dressed in what they liked. Few of them seemed to like what she wore, not that she had much choice. The people running her latest foster home were very stingy, and she had to wear second-hand clothes. She had to learn to sew to make them fit well. Still, her clothes and especially her hair were always targets for teasing. She thought about changing her hair, even cutting it, but somehow it seemed like losing a part of her. So, even as she got used to being "Sue," she was still _odango atama_, dumpling head.

After awhile, most of the teasing stopped as people got used to her. Her English got better--in fact, she found out she could even understand some Spanish, because lots of the kids at her school spoke it a lot. But she was still an outsider, a mystery no one could solve, or cared to.

After she had been in the school for several months, a boy asked her if she would go with him to a school dance. She didn't know him more than to say a few words to, though she remembered he seemed to be around her a lot lately, looking at her until she saw that he was. But he wasn't one of the boys who had teased her. She said "_Hai_--Yes, I will go with you, Jimi."

She had to buy her own second-hand formal from a thrift store and fix it up, and it wasn't very nice. But the dance was pleasant; she found she could dance fairly well, at least waltzing. Her date was a klutz that night, but he didn't mess up _too_ badly. Usagi realized that he was not normally awkward; that he was this way because she was making him nervous, and that made her feel quite good. And she noticed again how he spoke up for her when she got teased.

He had borrowed his parents' car for the night, so he drove her to her foster home. There were no lights on--she didn't have a key; because her foster parents didn't trust her or any of the other foster kids they were paid to take care of enough to give them keys. They would be angry when she rang the doorbell. So, she waited in the car with Jimmy longer than she might have, listening to him, putting off the scene with her foster parents.

Then she realized that what he was really doing was trying to get up enough nerve to kiss her. She remembered Mamo-chan--but was that real? Jimmy couldn't fly or throw magic roses, but he was real. So, when he finally inched all the way over, she let him kiss her. But when he started to do a little more than kiss her, she took his hands and pushed him away.

"I'm sorry, I--"

"No. I do not do this on first date. I just know you, Jimmy."

"I really think I love you. I mean, I've been wanting to get to know you for a long time."

"You do not know me. This is first date. With Mamo-chan--"

"Mamo-chan is just a cartoon, Sue."

She flushed. But of course, he believed that. And perhaps she should . . . "Yes, I forgot that. But I am sure if I make love before, I know boyfriend long time. Not first date. More than year, I think. I do not make love unless I am sure love boy."

"And you don't love me?"

"How I know that? I know you only short time. How you know you love me? Love take long time. Real love take--_takes_ --_a_--long time happen. _To_ happen." She got out of the car.

"Can I still see you?"

"You see me at school."

"I mean, can I ask you to go out with me again?"

"Wait few days--a few days. I need to think. Few days, Jimmy-chan."

* * *

After a few days, Jimmy-chan asked again, and Usagi--_Sue_, as she was beginning to think of herself, said yes. She wasn't very impressed by him at first, except that he endured a lot of teasing for going around with "the crazy girl who thinks she's a Jap." As weeks and then months passed, she began to see how Naru-chan could find love with Umino-chan--if there really were such people. Not just cartoons. But she remembered real people, or seemed to. Especially her mother. How could she have made up _okasan_?

The woman running the foster home wasn't anything like Mama-san. She was pretty enough, but only on the outside. She tried to get the foster kids to do as much of the work as she could, and Sue was the one who did the most. Besides that, if she wanted any pocket money, she had to work. And she found that studying was better than arguing with her foster family all the time. After a year, it seemed hard to imagine she had ever had time to be lazy . . .

* * *

**Chapter 3: Doctor Goodman **

IT WAS A MORNING when Sue had distanced herself from Jimmy for a few weeks because she wasn't sure where here feelings were taking her, and she was having some fresh difficulties at school. With a lot on her mind, Sue was almost out the door when her foster mother took her arm. "You forgot to take out the trash last night." 

"But I'll be late--" 

"I don't care. Do it now!" Her foster mother squeezed her arm hard enough to hurt before letting go. 

She nodded, put down her pack, and went out the back way instead. She groaned when she saw what she had to do--something had gotten into the garbage bags, and there was trash scattered all around. She got some more bags and was as careful as she could, but she still got some stinking drippings on her clothes. And, if that weren't enough, she heard the bus going by--she was going to be late! 

Sue sat down on the back step and cried. Now she had too many tardy slips; the school would ask her foster parents to come for counseling--something that would make them very angry. She started going through the papers that had drifted up by the porch, crumpling them up and throwing them at, sometimes into, a half-filled bag. Then she noticed one of them. It was a flyer. 

The flyer read: 

"Dinosaurs! Dr. Argent Goodman, paleontologist, will be speaking . . ." Much of the flyer was greasy, but it had a couple of good pictures of dinosaurs. 

Sue thought, _Maybe I can learn enough from this lecture to do a good Science paper. I sure need to bring my grade up_ . . . 

Sue tore off the part that showed how to get to the lecture (fortunately in a mostly clean part) and put it in her pocket. 

* * *

The lecture was given in an odd place, an old movie theater that hadn't shown regular movies for a long time. There weren't nearly enough other people there to fill up the place, although she was surprised to see Jimmy, who immediately asked her to sit with him, up front. She gave him a look--she'd made it clear she wanted to cool things down--but said "yes." 

Jimmy knew quite a lot about dinosaurs, and he talked about them while they were waiting for the lecture to begin. She was reminded of Umino Gurio, although Jimmy was not homely like poor Umino--odd how she had discovered she missed even Umino. _If there really was an Umino . . . _

Announcements kept coming from the P.A. about delays. People began to leave. Sue wondered about leaving and asked Jimmy about it. 

Jimmy answered, "No, I'm not giving up yet. I've read about her. I want to meet her." 

"Her?" asked Sue.

"Yes, Dr. Goodman is a woman." 

"How much you know--_do_ you know--about her?" 

"Not much. I just know a little about her ideas. She makes reconstructions of dinosaurs that are really different from most others. But almost none of the other paleontologists seem to agree with her." 

"Why?" 

"I don't really know. Jealousy, maybe. Anyway--" 

Jimmy stopped as a woman appeared on the narrow stage before the screen. Sue was startled at her appearance. The woman had silvery gray hair, and yet looked very young--in fact, though she was tall, she looked no older than herself, except for the hair. And the color was not the only thing odd about her hair--it was very long, mostly loose but with a number of thin braids--and feathers. She wore colored feathers amid her hair, a spray of them on each side that obscured her ears. 

Her dress wasn't outlandish: a gray woman's suit with a white blouse, the skirt hanging below her knees; blue pumps and a scarf in the same shade. 

She took the lectern and bent to the mike. "Sorry I'm so late . . ." And then she launched into her lecture, which turned out to be illustrated with slides of her sketches, paintings, and sculptures--which were very good. 

Jimmy was obviously fascinated by Dr. Goodman. In fact, Sue thought he was a little too interested--something that surprised her, because she realized she was feeling jealousy. That got her to thinking about Mamoru, and wondering if her memories were real. Those memories were still vivid, and she was lost in them through most of the lecture.

After the lecture, Jimmy wanted to speak with Dr. Goodman. So did Sue, but she probably wouldn't have without Jimmy--there was something odd about the woman, beyond her appearance. As they approached her, Sue noticed that she was staring at her, not Jimmy, even though Jimmy was doing the talking. "Could we talk with you for a few minutes?" Jimmy asked as they came up to the narrow stage."

"Since you had the courtesy to wait so long for me, yes . . . Just let me get down from this sorry excuse for a stage first." She packed her notes back into her attaché case, and took out a cellphone. She made a call, speaking as she made her way off the stage, motioning to Sue and Jimmy to follow her as she continued, leisurely, to move up the aisle toward the lobby.

When Jimmy began to speed up, Sue held him back. "Wait, she's on the phone," Sue said lowly--but a knowing glance back showed that Dr. Goodman had heard her.

They were the very last in the theater. A man was waiting at the doors, keys in hand, as they came out into the small lobby, and he unlocked one of them and held it open--silently indicating that they should leave _now._

And then Sue realized that it was late--looking at her watch, at last, she saw that it was past midnight. The house would be locked up. She was in trouble again.

"We're out too late?" Jimmy asked.

Sue looked up from her watch. Jimmy knew her well enough to guess what was wrong, so she didn't bother to deny it. "_Hai."_

"Maybe you could stay at my place tonight."

"No, that is not a good idea . . . I don't want to get you in trouble, too." She gave his hand a comforting squeeze; whatever she felt for him, he was a good person, and his offer was at least mostly out of concern.

"Well, I seem to have gotten you two young lovers into trouble." It was Dr. Goodman. She had glided up to them unnoticed in the few moments Sue was distracted.

"We are not lovers," said Sue, and then quickly added, "But we are very good friends . . ." She gave his hand another squeeze before releasing it.

"Do you need a ride?" asked Dr. Goodman. "I have a cab coming."

"No, I have a car," said Jimmy, who had borrowed his parents' again. "But thank you."

"Well, what about you? I could put you up for the night if you'd rather not go home tonight."

"Thank you, but--" _How did she know that?_

"I heard your friend make the offer." The woman had removed her shaded glasses. The marquee lights had just gone off, so it was hard to see, but still, her eyes seemed to hold Sue.

"Where you live?" asked Sue.

"I'm sort of between homes now. I'm staying at a motel in Redwood City. About ten minutes from here. With my daughter and my aunt--that's who I was talking to."

"You have room for me?"

"Yes. We had to take a room with three beds, and Aura still sleeps in a bassinet. She's only four months."

"And your husband?" asked Sue.

"Oh, I've never had a husband--of my own." She held up her left hand as a passing car lit up the sidewalk. "Where would I put a wedding ring?"

She had six fingers on her left hand, something Sue hadn't noticed.

* * *

**Chapter 4: A New Girl **

WHEN SHE RETURNED to her foster home, after school the next day, Sue's foster mother asked her where she had been the night before. She explained that she had stayed with Dr. Goodman, the lecturer. Her foster mother asked about the doctor, but grew bored while Sue explained. "Well, that's quite a story, honey--but you don't need to make it up stuff like that. If you want to fuck Jimmy or whoever, fine, just don't get yourself pregnant." 

"I do not _fuck_ Jimmy or anyone else. I stayed with Dr. Goodman because I did not want to wake you or Vic-san up. Her lecture was not finished until after midnight." 

"Well, how considerate . . . Listen, Honey--" Her foster mother actually seemed in a good mood for a change, "You're about the only decent kid I've seen come through here, and I count my own two. So don't think I'm doing this because I don't like you. But they're sending me a new kid. The only way I can fit her in here is to put her in your room." 

"But--" 

"Shut-up and listen, Honey. Vic is going to be home soon, and I don't want to go over this in front of him. I need to put her in with you because she's young. If I put her with the other girls, I don't think they will keep the boys away from her . . . hell, I know they won't. But they don't bother you . . . not after what you did to Louie." 

"You know about that?" She had flattened Louis a few days after he'd arrived, with a few moves that wouldn't have impressed Haruka or Minako, but which seemed to have made a lasting impression on Louis and the other would-be young toughs. "He told you?" 

"No, he'd never tell me he got his ass whupped by a girl--I saw it. Almost bit off my tongue to keep from laughing. 'Course, your were lucky you didn't really hurt him." 

"Yes." 

"Well . . . Anyway, Honey, I trust you more than any of the others. I even asked Vic to give you a key awhile back, but he wouldn't hear of it . . . you got to understand, Honey, I have to be hard on you in front of the others, I can't let them know we'll ever let up on any of them." 

"Thank you . . . when will this new girl be coming here?" 

"I'm not sure. Tomorrow or the next day--maybe even tonight. I need you to clear out some space for her in your room tonight, now. I'll give you a couple of milk crates. Put the stuff you think you can get along without for awhile in them. I'll lock them up for you." 

"All right." 

Sue wasn't happy about someone sharing her tiny room--and her bed; there wasn't room for another one. But she didn't think too much about it . . . she didn't really believe her foster mother had been secretly liking her all along. Maybe she was putting on the act to smooth over things with the new girl . . . but she had seemed _different_. It would have been better if she would have been her old mean self . . . that was something the girl who used to call herself Usagi could understand. 

* * *

Sue didn't think much about the new girl during school the next day, or the next; she didn't come. Jimmy didn't come to school on those days, either. On the third day, Jimmy was back, but he didn't say much to her until they were riding home on the bus. 

"What was Dr. Goodman like at home?" 

"It was motel room . . . You think we have sex?" Her English still tended to fracture when she was excited. 

"No . . . well . . ." 

"No, I am not like that, and she was not. She was nice lady. Her old aunt was up with baby when we got there, and it took long time for baby to go to sleep after Dr. Goodman fed her. We talked for long time." 

"About what?" 

"Many things . . . I said I miss parents. She said she never know mother. I think mother die when she born. Father die before she born--_was_ born. He was murdered. She have very sad life, and yet she is not sad person. She make me think of . . ." 

"Of who?" 

"She makes me think about one of those cartoon people." Sailor Pluto, actually, but she didn't tell Jimmy that. It still seemed so real at times . . . why couldn't she remember her real life? Or was it her real life she was remembering, after all? 

"Hey, remember me? I may not be that Tuxedo guy, but I'm here." 

She smiled and squeezed his hand. "You will always be good friend, Jimmy." 

"I'd like to be more." 

"I know . . . I cannot promise I will ever be what you want." 

"You are exactly what I want." 

She paused. "I think I understand. But I do not love you like that." 

"You could." 

She took a long time to answer. "I could . . . but you could wait very long time for nothing." 

"I've got more time than money . . . Hey, this is your stop!" He pulled the cord. 

* * *

The new girl hadn't shown up yet. No one in the house seemed to be worried about that, because Louis had gotten into a bad fight--not at school; he'd cut and found his trouble in a mall parking lot. There were police and Juvenile Authority people at the house--and Dr. Watanabe. "_Watanabe-sama_," she said to him without thought when she came upon him. 

"Still speaking Japanese?" 

"Oh. Not much, but I have not forgotten how." 

"Well, that's actually good news . . . the girl I'm placing here seems to speak only a very few words of English." 

"Really?" 

"Yes . . . she's younger than you by quite a few years, but she seems to have the same problem you had, Sue . . . Do you still call yourself Sue?" 

"Yes. I don't remember any other names. Besides from the cartoon." 

"You're still wearing your hair the same way." 

Sue shrugged. "I just do. I can make up my _odango_ in a minute. I must have been wearing them for many years. It is part of me." 

"Mmmmm . . . Anyway, I'm hoping that being with you for awhile will help her." 

"What is her name?" 

"Well, for now, it is Usagi. Like you, I'm afraid we don't have any idea of her real identity . . . you haven't had any clues about your own past, have you?" 

"No, I have not . . . perhaps it is too terrible to remember." It would have to be, if some of the things she thought she remembered were better! 

"Perhaps, but it would be nice to know the truth, wouldn't it?" 

"Yes . . ." Sue almost revealed that this new girl would be sharing her bed, but she suspected that was a violation of regulations, which would anger her foster parents if she revealed it--her foster mother was furious again, although fortunately not with her this time. She suspected that he knew already . . . 

Dr. Watanabe turned away and went back to talking with the police and the people from the Juvenile Authority. 

* * *

Sue was cursed with the tendency to go to sleep almost anywhere, but she was also blessed with the ability to fall asleep almost whenever and wherever she wanted to. So she went to bed and to sleep while the yelling was still going on downstairs later that evening. 

She woke up in the night needing to pee and stumbled off to the bathroom, noticing that someone else was in the bed but not caring enough to wait. Returning, she found the new girl had rolled to the center of the bed and scrunched up all the covers about her. Sue tugged until the girl released some of the covers and moved away--not waking up. It seemed familiar--like herself, she realized, on the few occasions when she had shared a bed with her brother--

If she had a brother. 

She got back into bed and under the portion of the covers the new girl had relinquished. It was not half. Rather than wrestle with the girl for more, she drew up close to her, so what covers she had would do. The girl's hair was long like hers, and she saw it was even done up in _odongo_--why did she still do that? The smell of the hair was somehow comforting, although it tickled her nose as she--

Sue sneezed. It was a bad sneeze. 

The other girl sat up, and said, "You got me all wet!" 

In Japanese. 

And then she sat up straighter, looking at Sue. After a long, quiet moment, the new girl then leaned over and switched on the light. Then she said, "_Kaasan_?" 

The new girl could be none other than Chibi-Usa. That meant so many things . . . things neither of them thought of as they clutched each other in tears. But Usagi--who must now call herself Sue--did retain enough presence of mind to switch off the light and say, "Not loud, my precious spore; these people are mean when you wake them up . . ." 

* * *

**Next: Precious Spore**

* * *

**Send comments to: **[**sewell_thomas@hotmail.com**][1]  
Site: [http://www.geocities.com/oldgringo2001/dream/][2]

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	2. Default Chapter Title

**Sailor Moon's American Dream**

A **Sailor Moon** fan fiction by [**Thomas Sewell**][1]. 

__

...... = thought quotation  
Okasan, Kaasan = mother  
Otousan = father

**Chapter 5: Precious Spore **

CHIBI-USA HAD COME on Friday night, but Usagi had to work the next morning. But Chibi-Usa did not want to be left alone again, so Usagi took her with her. Neither one of her foster parents objected, not that Usagi expected them to. When would they object to having one of their foster kids out of their hair for a day? Unless, of course, the kid got into trouble . . . 

But Usagi didn't worry much about that. In fact, she didn't worry at all--taking Chibi-Usa was something she felt was _right_ down to her bones. Maybe some of her future self had leaked back to her, or maybe some of her own mother, but she wasn't going to let Chibi-Usa be left alone and scared one second more than she had to. And her boss for that day, an assistant manager who was actually a little younger than herself, seemed to get two shades paler when Usagi told him that Chibi-Usa would be hanging around for her shift. Not asked. Told. 

Usagi did begin to wonder as the shift went on whether or not Chibi-Usa would grow bored and wander off, something she had done many times--something _she herself_ had done many times, she realized--but she did not. There wasn't time to think much about that or anything else besides work; it was almost summer now, and her place was very busy. A couple of the big summer movies had just opened in that mall, and there were lots of kids grabbing a meal between seeing one and the other. 

She thought she might be able to talk to Chibi Usa about how she had come here--_finally--_over their own lunch, since no one else understood Japanese--but she was wrong about that. As she began talking with Chibi-Usa, an old gentleman who had always given her mean looks suddenly came up to them and said "You actually speak Japanese?" In Japanese. 

"_Hai._" 

The old gentleman said, "I thought you were making fun of me, the way you talk." 

"It is my English that is not so good," said Usagi.

"She will never really learn _kanji_," interjected Chibi-Usa. 

Usagi turned and was about to get angry--but she leaned over and kissed the top of her daughter's head instead. "I suspect that is true. But I can speak well enough not to disgrace myself." 

"Goodness! You sound like a Tokyo girl." 

"_Juubangai_ . . . I think I lived there once. But I have lost my memories--" she squeezed Chibi-Usa's hand--"And my sister is too young to remember our parents. We live in a foster home now. They say they cannot find our parents. I think maybe they won't let us know what really happened to our parents." 

"How awful! Was your mother Japanese?" 

"Oh, yes, I do remember that," piped in Chibi-Usa. "She would wear kimono on Sundays, and take us to Hikawa Shrine." Chibi-Usa squeezed back--that had been something Chibi-Usa had nagged Usagi into doing. "But grandma and grandpa would stay behind. That was the only time we were all out of the house. I think they would make their love then." 

The old gentleman chortled as Usagi blushed. Chibi-Usa was probably right about that . . . Then the old gentleman joined them and went on about his younger days in Tokyo and how he had come to be living in Silicon Valley (he had three sets of grandchildren living in various cities around the Bay). He was still talking with Chibi-Usa when Usagi went back to work. 

* * *

Usagi usually rode her bike to her Saturday job, but Chibi-Usa didn't have one, so she had taken the bus. Waiting for the return bus, she once again began to speak with Chibi-Usa in Japanese when Jimmy came up on his own bike. He also had a job at the mall, but it was far from the place where Usagi worked, so they usually did not see each other--except riding home. She had forgotten about him. 

"Who's your new--Jesus, she looks like you! Is that your sister?" 

A few hours before, she had easily lied to the old gentleman, but now Usagi found she couldn't lie to Jimmy--whom she had quite forgotten about since Chibi-Usa had appeared. But if her faith in the truth of her memories had been restored, that still left Jimmy . . . 

"Hey, Sue! It's me! Remember? Aren't you going to introduce her?" 

Chibi-Usa was looking at her, too, and not liking what she saw. "_Okasan_, you haven't . . . with this man?" 

"No, no, Chibi-Usa . . . _Usagi,_ no . . . but he is a good friend." She switched to English. "Jimmy, please, go home. I cannot talk to you now." 

"But--" Jimmy started to say.

"_Go home_, my friend. Please?" 

His shoulders slumped, but he got wordlessly back onto his bike and pedaled away. 

"Oh, _kaasan_ . . . you broke his heart," said Chibi-usa.

"Yes. I think I did . . . but I warned him. Now, tell me, how did you get to this place. No, wait, I must warn you first . . . did they put you in a place with crazy people?" 

"Yes, _okasan_, they did." 

"They did that to me too . . . " She took out a comb and brush, and began to undo her _odango._ "You and I know the truth, but we must not let them think we believe it or they may put us back with the crazy people. So, we cannot be _odango atama_ while we are in this world." 

"World?" 

"Yes, my Usagi. It cannot be the world we knew. And call me 'Sue,' please. We will have to pick out a good American name for you soon." 

"Will we ever get back?" 

"Yes . . . I thought I was crazy sometimes, that I had never been Sailor Moon or even Usagi, that Mamo-chan was just a cartoon . . . but you have come to me . . . here, let me help me take your _odango_ out . . ." 

"_Kaasan_?" 

"You must not call me that around the other people at our home . . . but thank you for calling me that now . . ." 

"_Okasan_, would you have . . . with that man? Jimi?" 

"He is my age, Usako . . . I really don't know . . . when Mamoru was killed--" 

"Killed? Which time?" 

"By Galaxia . . . but the _ginzuishou_ brought him back again . . . you don't know of that? It was more than two years ago." Among Galaxia's many powers had been time travel, so Chibi-Usa, who was from the future, might know nothing of her, since her future had been saved . . . 

"No, _kaasan_ . . . but that may be why it happened." 

"Why what happened?" 

"Crystal Tokyo is gone. Maybe like it never was . . . " 

"Then how did you--" 

"I went to the timegate, like _otousan_ and _okasan_ . . . like you told me. Everyone and everything was fading, including me, like when Neherenia almost destroyed Mamo-chan . . . just before I went in, everything was gone." 

"Destroyed?" 

"No . . . no, there were buildings and stuff there, and people--but not _our_ buildings and _our_ people. I don't remember anything more, until I was wherever we are now . . . I'm going to miss my _odango_ . . . _okasan_, how will we get back?" 

"I don't know. But I have you again, and that gives me hope." 

"I do not have the future _ginzuishou._ I cannot transform." 

"I have lost mine . . . but if we cannot be _senshi,_ we are still the Moon family, and we will find a way. We always do . . . there. My, your hair has grown. _You've_ grown. You look--have your periods started?" 

"Yes. I just had my first one. _Kaasan_-you-were so happy that I was growing up at last . . . " 

"You look older than I was when . . . almost as big as I was when Luna first showed me how to transform." 

"Am I pretty?" 

"Very . . . In fact, you are going to have to be careful. Boys here don't have manners like in Japan, except for a few like Jimmy-san . . . I've gotten into about as many fights as Mako used to. But you must be careful not to hit too hard. With your training, even if you are not transformed, you could hurt someone very badly." 

"Auntie Minako warned me about that. And Auntie Haruka, too." 

"Really?. . . " Usagi found herself crying, remembering Haruka crying, so long ago now . . . 

Chibi-Usa held her, and began crying herself. People around them stared. Usagi almost missed the bus home. 

* * *

**Chapter 6: Jimmy **

USAGI NOTICED AFTER AWHILE that Jimmy wasn't really trying to get as close as he had been, most of the time. The last days of the school year meant finals, and she wanted to do as well as she could--she had been very surprised that even her old lazy self had been a better student than most of the American students. Between that and worrying about Chibi-Usa, she didn't give Jimmy or anyone else much thought. He would sit by her when they had classes together, or at lunch, but said little. 

But at the end of classes, the last Friday before finals week began, he took her hand and led her away from the bus stop. She started to protest, "Jimmy, I have to get home." 

"We need to talk," Jimmy insisted.

"I need to get home, Jimmy. Chi--I have to go home." She gently removed his hand from her arm. 

"Why? Why don't you have any time for me?" 

"I am sorry . . . " Usagi saw people, mostly other kids from her school, staring at herself and poor Jimmy, who was at the point of tears. She heard a smart remark and turned back with a wicked glance. Turning back to Jimmy and seeing him start to walk away, she ran up to him. "Do not go away like you are now. Please, I am still your friend. I am sorry." 

"Sorry . . . Do you know what I feel? Do you know how much . . ." 

She kissed him on his cheek. "I need to go home now, Jimmy-chan. But come with me." 

"Why? Why should I?" 

"If you are my friend, come . . . the bus is coming!" 

Usagi ran to catch it. It was very crowded. In fact, she did not know Jimmy had followed her until after she got off at her stop and had started walking home. She heard footsteps behind her, and there he was, still saying nothing, still with pain in his eyes she would do anything to take away--anything but what he really wanted. 

But those thoughts were washed from her mind when she saw Chibi-Usa running toward her. As much as she had grown, she seemed very much like the scared little sprout Usagi had first known when she melted into her arms. _This must have been a bad day_, Usagi thought, as she kissed and comforted. Usagi noticed that her foster mother come out and stand in front of the house, arms folded. _Very bad day. Vera-san is very angry_ . 

Her foster mother said lowly as they came up to the house, "You, git inside. Who're you--Oh, you're that Jimmy. You'd better--" 

Usagi found she could think very fast, and before her foster mother could get back into the rant she had started, she held trembling Chibi-Usa closer and said, "_Jimmy-chan has invited us to stay over with him tonight. I think that would be a good idea_." 

Vera-chan stopped speaking, and stepped back, shocked. It was the first time Usagi had ever done something like this. After a moment, without looking at Jimmy, without looking away from Usagi's eyes, she mumbled, "Uh, yeah, I guess . . ." 

"We will get some things and go. All right, Vera-san?" 

"All right." 

"Thank you. Jimmy-chan, you come?" 

It wasn't until they were all on another bus and well over halfway to Jimmy's home that either Jimmy or Chibi-Usa spoke again. Jimmy was first. 

"I can't believe this is happening . . . I never even told my folks about . . . who are you, anyway?" 

"She still doesn't speak much Eng--" Usagi began. 

"Usagi," said Chibi-Usa. "My _real_ name Usagi. _Is_ Usagi. But call me Sarah, you like. _If_ you like. Nice American name." She turned to Usagi and switched to Japanese, " _Oka_--I will use my American name. I do not think he understood me." 

Judging from Jimmy-chan's puzzled look, Usagi agreed with Chibi-Usa. She still found it very hard to tell Jimmy a casual lie, so she was very careful about what she said next. "She is much as I was. She has even more trouble with English. Worse when things are bad. But she is part of my family, Jimmy-chan. I remember that. I am sure. It is precious to have her again." She saw that Chibi-Usa understood, because a sudden tear appeared. Taking Chibi-Usa's hand, and Jimmy-chan's, she said, "_Family_ . Sarah is all the family I know I have now." 

"Is she your sister?" asked Jimmy.

"_Family,"_ repeated Usagi. "But we will tell your family she is my sister?" 

"Uh . . . yeah." 

* * *

Jimmy lived in a blended family. Usagi had known this, but it was a surprise to meet them all at home. She had met his mother once, and his sister and one of his stepsisters, but there were two other stepsisters, a stepbrother, a half-sister, and a half- brother, who was only a few months old. In the confusion of meeting them all, Chibi-Usa blurted out something in Japanese. "That is one more than Auntie Naru . . ." 

"What?" asked Usagi. 

"Nothing . . ." Chibi-Usa--or Sarah as she must be called now--would say no more of it. There was so much of the future she knew of but would not tell--annoying as ever, but comforting for being a _familiar_ old annoyance. 

Usagi forced herself to return her attention to Jimmy's family. Fortunately they were all distracted by Chi--_Sarah_--as she took the tiny baby in her arms and gently played with him--she had always had the same magical knack with babies as Ikuko, Usagi's mother; perhaps that had skipped a generation. She wiped the corners of her eyes before she really started streaming; it worked. 

"I think we've found another sitter," murmured Jimmy's mother. Usagi heard it--or had she heard what she was _thinking_? Things were getting strange . . . 

* * *

Usagi was able to talk with Chibi-Usa in one of the bathrooms for a few minutes later that evening. "What is happening? Why does Jimmy's family like you so much so soon? It's as if--" 

"As if I had Luna-P to hypnotize them," said Chibi-Usa.

"But you do not . . . are you doing this? How?" 

"Maybe . . . I don't know how, if I am doing it. I just wanted to fit in . . . " 

"Why not do that at the foster home?" 

Chibi-Usa shrugged. "I think they are too mean there. But I will try." 

"How can you do it without Luna-P?" 

Chibi-Usa looked at Usagi for a long time before answering. "After they took away Luna-P, I asked . . . She told me that Luna P was just a teacher, and that I had to learn to do on my own now . . . _Oka_--" 

"Careful, someone might hear. If you call me _okasan_ all the time, someone might tell Watanabe-sama about it someday, and he speaks Japanese." 

Then two more girls pounded on the door. 

* * *

Usagi really had planned on having that long-postponed talk with Jimmy that night, but she fell asleep on a chair. Chibi-Usa shooed everyone away from her, told Jimmy to get a blanket, and put it over Usagi after Jimmy had brought it. 

Usagi woke up needing to pee at about the usual time, judging from the faint light in the windows. She took a moment to remember where she was, but when she remembered enough to find her way to a bathroom, she thought of little more until she had completed her business. When she was washing up as quietly as she could manage, she began to hear voices from outside. Noticing that the bathroom window was open a tiny crack, she stood on tiptoe to peer out, and saw that Chibi-Usa and Jimmy were in the back yard, talking. This time, whatever special power that had allowed her to hear Jimmy's mother wasn't working; she could not make out what they were saying. 

But she could hear that Chibi-Usa was getting more and more upset, and she could see what was beginning to happen . . . 

* * *

"James!" cried Jimmy's mother, running out to him. 

"What in H-E--" Jimmy's stepfather began to say as he stumbled out a few steps behind his wife. Lights began to go on in the other houses. 

"I'm sorry. He fell. He's not hurt bad," said Usagi. We were just--" 

"I think I can see what you were doing," said Jimmy's stepfather. "Cover yourself and get back in the house." 

Usagi pulled her shirt closed, wishing she'd had time to open it without ripping the buttons--she might not be able to find them all to sew them back on. As she walked in the house, she glanced up, without lifting her head. Chibi-Usa was peeking over the top of the roof. All the other children were out in the back yard now. Usagi stuck out her tongue at Jimmy's step-brother Eric, an eight-year-old who reminded of her of Shingo. Then she went in, and quickly went to the front door, hoping that no one would notice. Once outside, she looked around to see if anyone seemed to be watching, and then whispered, louder and louder, until Chibi-Usa came down. "Get inside and change back!" she said to her daughter, "before anyone else sees!" 

Chibi-Usa did that, but both of them were dismayed to find that her pajamas had did not rematerialized. Chibi-Usa was still naked. Usagi grabbed the blanket Chibi-Usa had put over her hours before and wrapped it around Chibi-Usa. "Go back out and say you just woke up!" 

"What about my pajamas?" asked Chibi-Usa.

"Ne-e-eh . . . Say you didn't like wearing them!" 

Actually, no one paid Chibi-Usa much attention, except for Jimmy--and he was careful not to stare at Chibi-Usa for too long. 

* * *

JIMMY'S PARENTS weren't really that upset once they knew Jimmy wasn't really hurt, and, in fact, they let Usagi and Chibi-Usa stay another night--in one of the girl's rooms. Usagi thought Chibi-Usa might be using her powers to make that happen, but Chibi-Usa wasn't sure. The two oldest girls had had boys over before, and one of them had been caught making love--the other hadn't _been caught_. They seemed to think it was a great joke. Usagi and Chibi-Usa let them go on thinking what they thought. 

There wasn't any trouble when they came back to the foster home on Sunday, but neither Usagi thought that had anything to do with powers--the foster parents had short tempers, but also short memories, and they were busy making the lives of some of their other charges miserable. 

* * *

Usagi felt better about leaving Chibi-Usa alone to go to school on Monday than she ever had--because she knew Chibi-Usa would at least be _safe_, now. After that, there was the first day of finals to tackle; all too soon after that, the second . . . and before Usagi thought any more deep thoughts at all, it was the last day of school. She was riding home with Jimmy on the bus, and realized that this was the last ride they would be taking together for awhile. So she asked, "Will you come home with me?" 

"Sure." One-word answers seemed to be all he could manage since that night . . . 

But, as they walked very slowly toward her foster home, he managed some complete sentences. "This is so weird. And I can't tell anyone . . ." 

"Why would you want to? They would think you were crazy as me or Chibi-Usa--Sarah, we must always call her that now." 

"No, that's not what I mean . . ." 

"What?" 

"I mean, _everyone_ thinks we did it. _Everyone_ . I wanted that to happen so much, and now everyone else thinks I made it happen . . . but it didn't." 

"That is Oh-Kay, Jimmy-chan. Just tell them all I was very good, no?" 

They were close to the house now, and Chibi-Usa/Sarah had come outside, but she waited on the sidewalk, at least plausibly out of earshot. Something made Usagi stop then. So did Jimmy-chan. 

"I'm going away for the summer," said Jimmy.

"Going? Where?" 

"I enlisted in the Marines. I do boot camp this summer, then I go back in after graduation. My dad was a Marine, you know--my real dad. I always wanted to do at least one hitch, and--" 

"You enlist because of that night?" At least she hadn't switched into Japanese. 

"Yes, I did . . . It was stupid, I should have stayed here for the summer." 

"When do you leave?" 

"Tomorrow." 

"Well . . ." 

Chibi-Usa came up to them, but still said nothing. 

After a long moment, she wiped the wetness from the corners of Jimmy's eyes. Then she put one hand on his chest, and the other behind his neck, and kissed him full on the mouth for a long time. Then she pushed him back a little bit, surprising him and herself with her quiet strength. "I am very good, Jimmy-chan. But my heart is my Mamo-chan's. You know that. I trust you. But if I could . . ." 

He kissed her on the cheek, and then he went to Chibi-Usa and did the same, and hugged Chibi-Usa for a long time. "Take care of your mother," he said very quietly. "You're not the only one who loves her." And then he jogged back to the corner, and around it, and was gone. 

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Dusty Day **

AFTER TWO WEEKS of summer vacation, Usagi was miserable for several reasons. 

First, her foster parents were mad more often, with everyone out of school and at home more. They usually didn't start out mad at her or Chibi-Usa, but they were snappy almost all the time, and _anything_ might provoke a tongue-lashing or worse. 

Second, she never had enough money--now she was prowling the thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales for not only herself, but for Chibi-Usa. They wouldn't let her work any more hours at the fast food place, and they said Chibi-Usa/Sarah was too young. _If only they knew how old she_ really_ was . . ._

Third, she was lonely again. Of course, there was Chibi-Usa, but there was only so much they could take of each other, no matter how desperately important each was to the other. They began to bicker over tiny things, and spend hours not talking. 

Fourth, she missed Jimmy. She realized he was the _only_ friend she had made after coming to this world, and that made her feel lost, no matter how much she told herself that it was better Jimmy had gone away. 

Fifth, she was _bored_ so much of the time, which probably went a long way to explaining the third point. She felt like reading all the books _okasan_ and _otousan_ had always recommended, but her foster home had no books, and the neighborhood library had a very poor selection in Japanese. English was still too much work to be a pleasure to read. 

Television was ruled by her foster parents when they were around and by the meanest foster kids when they weren't. Usagi or even Chibi-Usa could beat up any of the mean ones, but they wouldn't do it just for that. 

Movies took money, unless you sneaked in, which was something Usagi wouldn't do. 

And if she just sat around _looking_ bored, one of her foster parents would nearly always come up with yet another chore to fill her time. And Chibi-Usa's. They were the only foster kids who really did any work around the house now. 

Besides, the weather was bad. There hadn't been rain for a long time; the weather was hot; the smog was bad; every time she and Chibi-Usa rode their old bikes somewhere, they were covered in dust by the time they got there. Because of the dust, there was twice as much laundry to do. _And guess who does all the washing and ironing now_, Usagi thought as she saw two other foster-girls sneaking out, as Usagi started ironing the skirt one of them had worn the day before. Any "permanent press" had long ago been washed out of the secondhand clothes they all wore. 

* * *

Dr. Watanabe came to see Usagi and Chibi-Usa a month into summer. He showed up unexpectedly, along with a social worker, a woman Usagi vaguely remembered. They spent a long time talking to their foster parents. Then Dr. Watanabe spent a few minutes with Usagi, and asked to speak with Chibi-Usa alone. The social worker led Usagi away, and then went back into the room, where they were doing their interviews. 

The interview went on for a long time. Her foster parents started to tell her to go outside, but she shushed them without thinking much about it--it was Chibi-Usa on her mind. Again, she could hear no more than a word here and there, but she could tell that Chibi-Usa was getting more and more upset . . . as Usagi was herself . . . 

* * *

ALEX BOGARDUS and his shotgun Betty Black (who was black, and a "betty" as well as a Betty) arrived on the scene to find a cop car already there. "Must be a donut shop around here," he said, joking but irritated nevertheless--he prided himself on beating the cops to a medical 911 call, and did, more often than not. 

"Must be," Betty drawled. She usually talked slow, but moved fast when she had to--_very_ fast. They were at the door in no more than fifteen seconds. "All right, ladies and gents, what do we have?" he called out, and then coughed as soon as he took in a breath. When he managed to stop he said, "What in the name of . . ." and he began coughing again. 

"Sorry, sorry. Vacuum creaner go bad. Dust everywhere. Sorry, we have not creaned up yet." "Yes, big mess, stirr crean," said a couple of very dusty girls--one of them was wearing a bathing suit. _A bathing suit?_

The cops were coughing, too, but also laughing. "Well, I guess Bogie and Black Betty must be off their feed . . ." 

Bogardus said, "Bite me, Peng. Is this our guy?" 

Officer Perez said, "Yeah. Head bang. I think he's okay, though." 

Black said. "Well, thank you for your consultation . . . Sir? Sir? What is your name sir." 

"He's--" 

Betty Black snapped, "Let us do our job, Peng, will you?" She had gentler words for the patient. "Sir? Can you tell me your name." 

The patient finally responded: "Watanabe. Harold Watanabe . . . I think I know you. Betty, is it?" 

"I'm unforgettable. Could you answer my partner's questions?" she said, slipping the blood-pressure sleeve over him. 

The police went back to interviewing everyone, but they saved the girls for last because they were cleaning out the damnable dust--no one else in the house seemed to be lifting a finger. Officer Peng was interested to find one of the foster kids was one she had busted for shoplifting just three months before. She talked her into returning the Doctor's wallet before she did anything official--a bust would just be more paperwork. 

By the time she and her partner got to the dusty girls, the EMTs had already taken Dr. Watanabe away, and it was so apparent that all the stories matched that they asked only a few questions. The girls who were doing all the work did their best to brush the dust off their uniforms before they left. 

Vera Gant waited until the police left to start her own inquisition. "How the hell did you managed to screw up a vacuum cleaner?" she asked the Kino girls. 

"Not our fault. It just blow up," said the little one. "I take out back and throw dirt on it. Afraid it start fire." 

"Jesus H--Do you know how much it cost?" 

"No," said the bigger one. "Maybe I call Mrs. Farb now?" 

"Why would you do that?" 

"You borrowed vacuum cleaner from Mrs Farb, many month ago," said the little one, quietly. 

"Oh, I forgot . . ." 

"You want me to call Mrs. Farb now?" asked the big one again. 

"No, no . . . I'll do it later . . . Don't say anything about this to her . . . I remember--" 

"You had a very bad dream, Vera-san," said the smaller one. "You took a nap and had a very bad dream. That was when vacuum cleaner blow up. Do you remember dream?" 

"Some . . . " 

"Maybe better forget bad dream," said the little one.

"It was only a bad dream, Vera-san," added the big one. 

"Vera-san, what you want me cook for dinner?" asked the small one. 

* * *

**Chapter 8: Jimmy Returns**

"JIMMY-CHAN!" 

Any fears he had about Sue forgetting him were erased as she ran up and hugged him. He thought about trying to kiss her, but if he had to think, it wasn't the right moment. 

"Oh, my . . . you are taller!" said Sue.

"Thanks. It's less than an inch, though . . . Damn, you're _still_ taller than me. More than before." 

"I grew too. I did not have to work for it . . . you feel so strong now." 

"I imagine I'm in fair shape." _Probably the best in my life_. She didn't seem to get his little joke, but she beamed anyway. 

"What have you been up to? I wrote you a couple of times . . ." 

"I am sorry." Her smile utterly vanished. "It has not been a good summer for me." 

"How's Chi--how is Sarah?" 

"She is in school . . . finally in school, again. It is so silly to have school out for so long. Everyone forget--_forgets_--what they learn." 

"Maybe so . . . but I wish I had had this summer. No more after this one. We're official grownups in nine months . . . what's wrong?" 

"A very long story, Jimmy-chan. I am not sure I should tell." 

"What could you tell me now that would surprise me? You killed someone?" 

She didn't answer with words . . . but her eyes made it clear. 

* * *

Jimmy wouldn't have made it through the rest of that day at school if Sue--_Usagi--_hadn't pretty much led him everywhere. How could he think about anything else? He'd just about convinced himself that what he'd seen that night must have been a dream. But it wasn't . . . he was in love with a girl who should be a cartoon . . . except she wasn't. She had a daughter who was somehow much older than she should be--and could turn into an angel and fly. And now his sweet love had killed someone . . . who? Why? What he had no question about was that it had happened, because, for better or worse, he was sure she could never really lie to him.

* * *

"You're pretty late tonight," said Jimmy's stepfather. 

"I was with Sue." 

"Oh." 

"And Sarah. I took them too the movies. And then I went to their place for awhile." 

His sister Nancy was still up. "Do they still live in that creepy foster home?" 

"Yeah . . . you've been there?" 

"Once," said Nancy. "Like I said, creepy." 

Jimmy said, "Well, we stayed outside mostly, or in their room." 

"Right," said his sister, sounding more doubtful than their stepfather.

He let her think what she thought. He let them all think that--his mom had come down, and most of his steps and halves. "I'm really tired . . . would you mind if I just went to bed?" 

Jimmy was tired enough, but it took him a long time to get to sleep.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Dr. Watanabe's Mystery **

DR. HAROLD WATANABE was quite used to seeing police, since he did so much work with them. But he was very surprised when the unfamiliar detective sergeant began asking him the wrong sort of questions. "When? Ah--weeks ago. Let's see--can I look at my calendar?" 

"You don't remember without it?" 

"I live by my calendars; my life is too complicated to carry around in my head . . . here it is, see?" He brought up the page on the screen of his largest monitor. 

The detective wrote something down. He had known enough detectives by now to know they often wrote down nonsense, and his hunch was that nonsense was what this one was scribbling. Before Dr. Watanabe could put together a question of his own, the detective had another. "Can you tell me what you did that day?" 

"Well, what my notes say. I visited several group homes." 

"There's not much on each case" 

"That would be in my case files. They are confidential. You know that, of course. What is this about?" 

"Just let me ask all my questions first, Okay? Can you tell me what happened after you finished your last visit?" 

"Well, I had an accident. Slipped on something in a bathroom and conked my head. _That_ I certainly haven't forgotten. It must be in your files; I remember police there. 

"Yes, it's in the files . . . but what about Ms. Chilicothe?" 

"Why, she . . . Hmmmmm . . . she wasn't there. She wasn't at that last visit." 

"Really? Wasn't she supposed to be? It says so in your notes there." 

"Yes, she was . . . I'm sorry, I don't remember why she didn't come . . . " In fact, he realized he remembered very little about the woman at all--yet he had recognized the name. "I don't remember . . . I don't really remember much about that day at all, even looking at this. Maybe that concussion took a little more out of me than I thought . . ." 

"Well, that's possible . . . when is the last time you are sure you saw her? . . . Doctor?" 

"Sorry . . . I'm sorry. I don't remember seeing her that day." 

"You're saying she wasn't with you at all?" 

"No, I'm saying I don't remember . . ." 

"Your notes say—" 

"Yes, they do. I must have uploaded these from my Palm Pilot. But nothing about that last visit, except this . . ." 

"What does that mean? 'mtwsaa?'" 

"I don't know. I make these abbreviations all the time, but I forget them sometimes. I don't know what I meant . . . all a blank." He turned back to the cop and read his face. "Has something happened to her?" 

"Maybe." 

"Don't stonewall me, Arteminski. I can find the story with one phone call. All you'll do is annoy me." 

The cop flipped shut his little notebook. "She hasn't been seen since that day, Dr. Watanabe. Now that I've seen your records, you are the last known person to have seen her." 

_Seen her alive_, Watanabe almost responded. He didn't say it aloud, but the cop could see that he wanted to say it. Arteminski struck him as a smart investigator; he wondered how he couldn't have met him before. But of course, they would send someone he hadn't worked with, if they could. 

He made a call. 

"Judge Yamamoto?" 

"Harold?" 

"I need a favor . . ." 

"Well, what?" 

"Can you recommend a good defense attorney?" 

* * *

Going over his files late at night, he began wondering if the police had already been through them--suddenly encryption didn't seem like such a paranoid idea. His computer records for the last group home were gone--just an empty folder. He went through his hardcopy and found most of what he was looking for--but he also noticed something else. He was a stickler for aligning his folder tabs, but there were some gaps now . . . three. One of them had to be the file on his doings with Ms. Chilicothe--though he couldn't seem to remember much about it, or the woman. _The other two . . . What?_

He mused about the concept of the blind spot. He felt there was something he should be seeing in his mind's eye, but couldn't--it was where he just couldn't see it. 

_The judge_, he thought. _The judge has something to do with it_ . . . but calling her again wasn't a good idea. He had just used up his favor. If he called again, expecially so soon, she would have to tell the police . . . 

He shrugged. _Go back to that last foster home._

* * *

Dr. Watanabe sat in his car outside the Gant home for awhile before getting out. There didn't seem to be any police watching, but he wouldn't be able to spot them if they were good . . . _Is it paranoia when they are really after you?_ He smiled at the wry thought. But he waited a few minutes longer, listening to the loud voices through the open window. He began to remember the Gants . . . a good record with fairly tough cases. They had to be turning a profit on their operation, but the system wasn't going to begrudge them that unless they got on the wrong side of some administrator. 

As he waited for the yelling to stop, a car pulled up. The driver looked like a teenager, but the car was no street machine; it was a nondescript hatchback, more than ten years old, with some primer patches showing some body work that hadn't been repainted. There was a fresh bumper-sticker that read "USMC." Three girls and another boy got out. He recognized the boy and the girl who headed directly into the house: they were in his case files. The two who stayed by the car to talk with the driver for the moment, he couldn't place--but he he was sure he had seen them before. 

After the old car drove away, the two girls waited for another few moments, talking with each other. The taller, older one, attractive with long blond hair put a hand on the smaller, younger one's head--that one had strawberry blond hair, almost pink, and resembled the other one. _Sisters?_

Then the older one began looking at him. He waved, rolled up his windows, and got out of his car. "Are you staying with the Gants?" he asked as he crossed the street. 

"Yes . . . Don't you remember us?" the older one asked. Was she mocking him? She seemed to have a heavy Japanese accent. 

The smaller one spoke--in Japanese. "You are the one who fell and hit his head." She had light brown eyes, but with the epicanthic folds of an East Asian. But aside from the color, they were set the same way in her face as the older girl's cobalt blue eyes--and both girls had eyes that seemed a little large. 

The smaller girl spoke again. "Why have you come here again?" This time it was in English, with an even thicker accent. 

"I just want to check up on things here. Did I ever see you two as patients?" 

The older one answered, "I saw you a long time ago." 

"Why?" 

The older girl answered, "I lost my memory." 

"You did--yes, I remember something about that . . . I'm afraid that bump on the head did more damage than I thought." 

"You sent Sarah here hoping I would remember her. I do . . . I do not remember everything, but I remember her." 

"Oh . . . that's good." 

The younger one spoke again, in Japanese. "You do not remember that, do you?" 

"No . . . no, not really." 

The younger one said, "I am so sorry . . . If you come inside, I can make some chocolate for you." 

"Thank you." He accepted the offer. They led him inside to the kitchen, and the smaller one made hot chocolate while the bigger one talked about what was going on at her school and the smaller one's school--girlish gossip, the sort of thing his daughters could go on about for hours. Then they left him to talk with the Gants. 

* * *

The Gants were nervous to have him dropping in unexpectedly. He asked them about all their charges, and they told him what he expected they would, except for the two odd ones he had talked to first--the Gants were very happy having them. Then he got to his real point. "Do you remember Ms. Chilicothe being here with me on my last visit?" 

"Who?" asked Mrs. Gant.

"Ms. Chilicothe. A social worker. She--" he realized he had entirely forgotten exactly what her function was. "She worked with me on occasion." 

"No, I don't remember any such woman. Vic?" 

"Doesn't ring a bell with me, Doc. Maybe she was here some other time--we get so many of them coming here, it's hard to keep them straight." 

"Vic's got that right. I've seen kids go through five, six different case workers. Why do you want to know?" 

Dr. Watanabe said, "I can't remember much of what happened on my last visit here. Probably because of the concussion. Anyway--you're sure neither of you remembers Ms. Chilicothe?" 

"What did she look like?" asked Mrs. Gant.

"Ahhh--rather short, brown hair, blue eyes. I'm afraid I'm not very good at physical descriptions. I think she liked to wear brown. And she wore glasses." Dr. Watanabe was really describing the one photograph of the woman his research had uncovered. 

"That could be a dozen different women I know," said Mrs. Gant. 

"Why are you asking?" inquired Mr. Gant. 

"Oh, I'm a nitpicker. I was going through my records and found some contradictions. I'm afraid I don't remember much more about the last time I was here than getting taken to the hospital." 

He had all but forgotten about the odd pair of sisters by the time he was ready to leave, but they met him again outside. 

"Watanabe-san, we would like to ask you a favor," said the blond one in perfect Japanese. 

"Yes? What?" 

"Our records have been lost, and we have no proof we are sisters. Could you have someone do a DNA test? We don't want to be taken away from each other." 

_Taken away. Something--_

The little one stared at him very intensely. "Please, it is so important. We are all the family we have in this world. It would help keep us together. Please keep us together." 

"Well, I suppose . . ." 

"Please, Watanabe-san?" said the little one.

"I'll see what I can do." 

* * *

DNA matching was expensive. But Stanford University was a center of genetic research. He made a few calls. Finally an old friend told him he could have one of his graduate students take care of it. She could work in the tests as part of an advanced class. 

* * *

Ateminski the detective didn't return that week, or the next, or the next. But he did pay a visit to the Gant home one school day, long before Usagi or Chibi-Usa came home. He remembered what he did there. Dr. Watanabe didn't find about it until another month had gone by. 

By then Dr. Watanabe had almost stopped worrying. But he made up for lost time, because he found his contacts in the police and the courts would tell him nothing about Ms. Chilicothe. 

But he had found out a little more about Barbara Chilicothe. She had family, although out of the state. He actually called them, using a false name and a false story, from a public phone. They hadn't heard from her for some time, but weren't particularly worried--she wasn't much of a writer, and seldom called. They mentioned an ex-husband, but he turned out to be a dead end. Dead, in fact, for a couple of years. No children of her own . . . 

Taking a closer look at his cases and other records, he found scattered references to her going back for at least three years. Yet she remained behind that blind spot in his mind's eye . . . he could summon no direct memory of what she had looked like, or sounded like. The photograph he had found was of a woman of ordinary appearance--pleasant-looking but nondescript. She didn't look like someone with whom he was likely to have had any romantic involvement. But he had walled off that part of his life since his wife had passed away. He had never let his daughters know about any of the women he had been involved with since their mother. He'd trained himself not to think of them, or of other disruptive things in his life, while he was with them. Was he walling off something from his own consciousness? He'd seen that often enough, though he didn't really believe that truly divided personalities existed. 

His daughters. He had quite forgotten about them in his latest late-night research. He looked in on them. He found that Stephanie, his youngest, still in her day clothes, asleep on her bed amid a pile of Japanese comics, _manga_. She had left the lights on. Rather than wake her up and scold her, he removed the manga from her bed and put the quilt over her. He gathered the rest of the scattered _manga_ up, and decided to take them with him--she really shouldn't be staying up so late. He shut off the last of the lights just before he closed the door. 

He was going to lock them away in his files for a few days, but as he got back to his study, the scene of so much worrying about the detective and his lost memories, he wondered if he was being too severe. He began to look through them. They all featured mostly girls, drawn with that large round-eyed look peculiar to most Japanese cartoons. Many had absurdly-colored hair, probably to help differentiate the characters, since the faces were mostly done very much in the same, conventional way. 

Most of the comics he had gathered had the same character on the cover, a silly-looking thing with two long blond ponytails descending from two buns on the top of her head--she usually had some red things in them. Looking inside, he began to follow the stories . . . and began to grow concerned. They were far more sophisticated than he had imagined, when the fantasy and rubber science were stripped away. They weren't _hentai_, the sexually explicit cartoons he knew of (and found disgusting), but they were really far more adult-oriented than he had imagined. And while there was far more romance, there was violence, and even death. The girl with the ponytails and her friends could and did kill. 

He spent far longer going through the manga than he had thought he would; in fact, he read every one of the manga featuring the ponytailed girl, Sailor Moon, some more than once. It was dawn when he realized how long he had taken . . . 

Instead of locking the manga up, he put them on the kitchen table, and began making a pancake breakfast. It was a school day--and a workday--but it was a day off for his housekeeper/nanny. The girls wandered down one-by-one when they smelled their favorite breakfast, but they didn't say much to him, or even each other. 

He realized he had grown distant from them. This thing with the obscure social worker was a blight on his life. And what about the missing case files? Who had they been? They were hiding behind that blind spot . . . 

He noticed that all his daughters were reading the manga while they ate, despite his rule against reading at the family table. He almost scolded them, but thought better of it. Then he looked at the cover of one of the manga . . . it was the pony-tailed girl, Sailor moon, and a smaller girl who looked quite like her, except the hair and eyes were a little different--the hair was _pink_, and the eyes were red. She was supposed to be the daughter "from the future" of the blonde one, Sailor Moon. A peculiar sidekick, one of the wierder elements of the storyline. 

What did that remind him of? _Who_ did that remind him of? 

* * *

**Next: The Grey Lady**

* * *

**Send comments to: **[**sewell_thomas@hotmail.com**][1]  
Site: [http://www.geocities.com/oldgringo2001/dream/][2]

   [1]: mailto:sewell_thomas@hotmail.com
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	3. Default Chapter Title

**Sailor Moon's American Dream**

A **Sailor Moon** fan fiction by [**Thomas Sewell**][1]. 

...... = _thought quotation  
Okasan, kaasan = mother_

**Chapter Ten: The Grey Lady **

HALLOWEEN was not one of the holidays Japan had adopted, like Christmas--at least their Japan. The idea of dressing up in costume was appealing, though. Usagi and Chibi-Usa decided to do it. There was a Halloween party/dance being held at Chibi-Usa's middle school, and Usagi volunteered to help, so she could be with Chibi-Usa and have some fun, too. What had happened with the social worker lady seemed to have been a long time ago, and only Dr. Watanabe had come back to ask about it. It seemed to be all right. They were overdue for some real fun! So, Usagi made up a couple of costumes for them. Sailor Soldier costumes, from old leotards and ends scrounged at fabric stores, and cheap, second-hand costume jewelry. Not really much like any of the ones she manifested when she had transformed so long ago, but pretty close to the anime she had seen here, given what she had to work with. It felt good to wear their odongo again . . . she even persuaded Jimmy to rent a tuxedo to play his part. 

They didn't know anything about police detective Arteminski dropping by--he had made a second visit by that Halloween. 

* * *

Before the party, but in their costumes, they went with Jimmy, two of his younger half-siblings and a stepsister, and some neighborhood kids in his family's van trick-or-treating, before it was very late. That was very nice. But it also made Usagi misty-eyed, because she had missed out on so much of this with Chibi-Usa when she was small. How was she going to even _have_ Chibi-Usa? Maybe having Jimmy wear the costume was not such a good idea, because it made her memories of Mamo-chan start to ache . . . _so long . . . so long ago, now._

* * *

It started out well at the party. Chibi-Usa had always been "Sarah" at this school, and no one remembered her or her "sister" as being crazy--they were just unusual, half-Japanese "sisters" who had trouble with their English. Most people liked their costumes a lot, although there was a "sophisticated" crowd even at this Middle School who made a point of telling them how childish they were being. Usagi was very proud of Chibi-Usa. She only used her powers once, to trip the snottiest of the "sophisticates" into a fall into a punchbowl. No one was the wiser, and the mop-and-bucket work afterward was well worth it. 

As they finished cleaning up, Usagi had a thought. In Japanese, she said to Chibi-Usa, "You did that without transforming? You must be learning to do as I can." 

"You still can't transform." 

"No . . ." But that reminded her of what she had done without transforming. All the laughter left Usagi. 

"_Okasan_, what . . . You're remembering it again, aren't you?" 

"Yes . . . Not your fault, I brought it up." 

"I shouldn't have done that to that girl." 

"It was all right . . . she deserved it." 

"_Okasan_--" 

"Chibi-Usa, don't call me that here. Remember--" 

They had been speaking Japanese, of course, but one didn't have to understand that language to notice that they were disturbed. Jimmy was looking concerned--he knew something about what they were talking about, after all--but there were also some others standing close with concern in their eyes. 

Usagi put them off with a performance. She held out her mop like a sceptor, and went through one of the ridiculously long battle sequences she had seen in the anime, complete with a long, silly soliloquy. Chibi-Usa joined in. By the time they were finished clowning, nearly everyone at the party was gathered around, laughing. Except for the drenched girl and her crowd. And Jimmy, though he was trying to fake it. 

* * *

The drenched girl soon left with one of her friends. Chibi-Usa said she hadn't come to school the next Monday--Halloween had been on a Saturday that year. The snobby girl didn't come the day after, or the next. Then some police came . . . the snobby girl was missing, along with her friend. 

Chibi-Usa hadn't really done anything bad, but she felt guilty. Even if she not liked the girl, he hadn't wanted to do her real harm. The girl had run away. Or worse . . . Usagi and Chibi-Usa volunteered to help put out the missing person flyers. But the girls did not turn up. And, in two weeks, another girl vanished, quite close by. 

Vera-san began to drive all the other girls to school and back. She didn't explain why, but she became very angry if anyone did not show up when they were expected. 

Usagi and Chibi-Usa then knew there was a monster in their little part of this world. It didn't seem to be armed with black magic, but it would able to destroy with false words, silky promises, leaving behind families forever grieving, perhaps never knowing if their missing one was alive or not. It could be anyone . . . and that is what made this monster more terrible than any they had encountered. 

* * *

The old Japanese gentleman came by for his Saturday lunch as usual. But he was disturbed. "Where is your sister?" he asked Usagi. 

"At home. Our foster mother wouldn't let her come with me today." 

"Is she in trouble?" 

"No. Vera-san is just worried about the missing girls. She said she didn't want Ch--want my sister to wander off and get snatched." 

The old gentleman shook his head. "That is terrible. Terrible . . . sometimes I want to take my family all back to Japan." 

"Things like this happen in Japan." 

"Not often." He shook his head. "I like her. I'll miss her." Usagi saw that he wanted to say more, but wasn't. But she almost heard--

Usagi said, "I'm sure I can bring her along next week, or the next. We can't just lock ourselves away and hide from this man forever, whoever he is." 

"No. I hope they catch him soon, the police." 

"Yes . . . We spoke with the police about it." 

"You did?" said the old gentleman. 

"Yes. The first two girls, we we knew them. Sarah knew them; they were from her school." 

"Friends?" 

"No, not really, but we we saw them the night they disappeared." 

"How much did you tell the police?" asked the old man. 

"What we could . . ." _He's very concerned about the police._ "Are you in some sort of trouble?" 

"No! What makes you think?" 

She could _hear_ his thoughts. Not very much, but . . . "You! You paid the social worker lady!" 

The man grew ashen. 

"Why?" Usagi demanded. 

"Please . . . I only wanted to help. I know how terrible those foster homes can be." 

"You paid to take Chibi-Usa away from me?" 

"I wanted to help! They wouldn't let me take you; you are too old. I wouldn't have kept her from you." 

"No, you wouldn't . . ." He was telling the truth. That terrible day, he had started it all by wanting to help. 

"Excuse?" said the old man. 

"Yes?" She couldn't hear his thoughts; she couldn't seem do that for long, and was glad of it, actually . . . "Yes, what?" 

"You called her Chibi-Usa? I thought her name was Sarah." 

"That is her American name. She is named Usagi, after--her mother . . . but we don't use that name much." 

"Reminds you of your mother?" 

"Yes . . . Yes, it is hard to think of her. Sad to think of her." Now Usagi decided she would have to perform at least a little. Trying to sound as if she didn't know, she asked, "Did the social worker lady give you back your money." 

"No . . . How did you know I paid her?" 

"I guessed what she was doing, and she admitted it--I can fight pretty good sometimes. But I haven't seen her for a long time . . . you should have asked us first." 

The old man said, "Ms. Chilicothe said that wasn't allowed." 

"I think she must have made a lot of money doing things like that . . . maybe thought she should run off before the police caught her. She was pretty scared when I found out what she was doing." 

The old man shrugged. "I am sorry. I only wanted to help . . . Will you tell the police? 

Usagi said, "I will try not to. But you should not be in much trouble if they find out. You just wanted to help." 

The old man took her hand. "Thank you. Thank you." Then he left. Watching him disappear into the mall, Usagi knew she wouldn't see him again. Despite knowing the trouble he had caused, she was sad about that. 

* * *

When Usagi came home, she found Vera-san and Vic-san talking with a man in a rather well-worn suit. Chibi-Usa whispered to her, "He is a policeman." 

"Here to talk about the missing girls?" 

"No. He is asking about the social worker lady." 

"Can you--" 

"I don't know. Can you hear what he is thinking?" 

"No, not now . . . careful, he might know some Japanese." 

"Yes . . . He seems smart to me," said Chibi-usa. 

"What can he do?" She hugged her daughter. "Did he ask you much?" 

"Nothing, yet. But he--" 

The policeman in the old suit came up to them, and they both stopped talking. Perhaps he did not understand Japanese, but he did notice that they had stopped talking. Usagi knew it was going to be harder talking to him than the foolish old man. His "warm" smile didn't comfort her. It was like he had walled off his true feelings behind his unblinking eyes. 

"Sarah tell me you are policeman." She wasn't fracturing her English on purpose. 

"Yes. Detective Sergeant Arteminski. We haven't met before. Maybe you can help me." 

"How? About the missing girls?" 

"No, I'm working on something else. I'm trying to find this woman." He pulled out a picture from the little vinyl folder he was carrying. It was one of the social worker lady. "Do you remember her?" 

"I remember some. I did not know her very well." 

"Do you remember her coming here with Dr. Watanabe?" asked the policeman. 

"She came with him sometimes. Is she missing like the girls?" 

"Not like the girls, I think," said the policeman. 

"Maybe the same man take her. Maybe you should look for that man." 

"I am looking--" he stopped talking, and the smiling mask he had put on fell away. 

Usagi realized she had put him off balance. That pleased her, scared as she was inside. Maybe there was something of the Neo-Queen in her, to stand up as she must to this man, and surprise him with her strength. She said, "Why would I know where to find her? Maybe you should look somewhere else." 

Arteminski the policeman looked at her--and at Chibi-Usa squeezing tighter and closer to her. Then, after a silence that even the Gants noticed, he began speaking again. "I have been investigating this woman for a long time. I am sure she has been taking money to arrange illegal adoptions. But in this country, it takes a lot of evidence to catch someone for something like this. She has been careful." 

"Maybe she ran away," said Usagi. 

He shook his head. "I don't think so. She didn't take anything from her apartment. There were no withdrawals from her accounts. We found her passport . . . I think that her partner may have made her disappear." 

"You mean, kill her?" asked Usagi. 

"Yes," said the policeman. 

"Who is partner?" asked Usagi. 

Chibi-Usa chimed in. "Do you think it was Dr. Watanabe?" It was what Usagi thought. She made to shush her daughter, but before she could, Chibi Usa blurted out--fortunately in Japanese--"Oh, _kaasan_, we have got him in to terrible trouble!" She was very upset. 

Since only one thing was likely to make things worse, Usagi hugged Chibi-Usa and said, in Japanese, "It will be all right . . . somehow . . . please, just don't transform now." But as she bent down to kiss the crown of her daughter's head, she caught a tiny glint in her hair. Her own sigil--it must be glowing! 

_The policeman will notice any second now . . ._

And then, the door bell rang. Everyone jumped. 

Usagi was the first to recover. She swept Chibi-Usa along to the door--and away from the policeman--and hoped her sigil had stopped glowing by the time she began opening the door. It wasn't until she had opened it all the way that she began to take in the person there. It took her a moment to remember. 

"Dr. Goodman?" 

"Yes. Can we come in?" She had her baby in a carrier. 

Usagi didn't really answer. She just backed up a little as the woman came in. She walked past the policeman, who seemed to be dumbfounded for the moment, and introduced herself to Vera-san and Vic-san. "Dr. Goodman. I'm an acquaintance of Sue's. Sorry to come so suddenly, but I have such an uncertain schedule and this opportunity opened up. Sue's told me quite a bit about you." 

Vera-san, who was always much quicker to recover from surprise than Vic-san, said, "I'm afraid you picked a bad time. We have a po--" 

"You have Sergeant Arteminski here. We're also acquainted. I didn't expect to find him here, though. I can wait until the Sergeant finishes his business . . . ?" The woman set the baby carrier down on one of couches, and sat down next to it, looking out at the policeman. 

Usagi saw that the woman was telling a truth; the policeman recognized her. She had yet to read a thought of his, but she could read his face well enough, now that he was off-balance again. The policeman said, "I think I'm finished here for now." He left--but on the way out, he paused to give Usagi what seemed to be a long last look. She shuddered, but not until after he was gone. 

Usagi turned back to see that her foster parents were quite off, unable to do anything. She knew them well enough to know they would bully anyone they could, but Dr. Goodman, no. She was wearing a different outfit, but with a lot of gray again--and the colored feathers, peaking out from under the scarf she had tied about her head, rather like a gypsy woman, although Usagi had never seen a real gypsy . . . the Doctor had taken her baby out, still very tiny, and was giving it some water, and playing with it, as if she was familiar with this house as her own home. Wherever that was . . . 

The last time I saw her, Chibi-Usa came the next day . . . But she wasn't a youma or a witch, just an eccentric lady with a baby . . . or was she more? 

Chibi-Usa went over to the lady in gray, and she handed her baby over. The baby liked Chibi-Usa--no surprise there--but why was Chibi-Usa getting so close to this strange woman so quickly . . . 

Whatever spell was over the living room that held Vera-san and Vic-san was broken by an all-too-familiar sound from upstairs. A screaming fight had erupted, with thumps and bumps. The foster parents rushed upstairs, screaming themselves. 

It was the boys who were fighting; the girls who were upstairs came down to get away from it all. Usagi had never gotten close with any of the other girls who passed through this place--none of the ones who had been at the Gant home when Usagi had first come were still here, and even Chibi-Usa had seen most of the ones she had first found here had gone by now. But two of the three girls stopped in the living room. The third--the toughest, oldest girl now, besides Usagi--went to the door. 

"Michelle, you'd better ask before you go." Usagi stepped in front of her. 

"If I ask, they won't let me. Since when is what I do your business, Jap?" 

"Don't go. That man is out there somewhere." 

"I'm not stupid enough to get--" The girl started to shove her out of the way, but thought better of it--Usagi had given her a scare once, when she had been foolish enough to try to hit her. "Just get out of my way. I can take care of myself." 

The lady in gray called out. "I'm sure that's what the others thought. Stay awhile. There's nothing better to do out there right now." 

The tough girl got a different look. Usagi wasn't sure exactly what it was, and she wasn't even trying to read her thoughts, but she was certain Michelle was feeling something disturbing, no matter how hard she was trying to hide it. Michelle said, "This is bullshit." But she turned around, walked back to a chair, and sat down. She grabbed a magazine Usagi was sure she must have read many times before, but she at least acted like she was reading it. 

Kimberly knelt down next to Chibi-Usa, and made faces at the baby. "Cute . . . I had a baby, but they took her away." 

Usagi hadn't known that, and she was suddenly ashamed she hadn't. But she saw that Chibi-Usa was not surprised . . . there were still many things Chibi-Usa didn't tell her. 

Usagi introduced everyone else to Ms. Goodman, even Chibi-Usa, although she was sure that the gray lady knew who Chibi-Usa was . . . but not a thought could she read. She had trouble introducing the newest girl. "Carla?" 

"Kara." She touched her fingers lightly on the feathers. "I've never seen anything like these. Where'd you get them?" 

Dr. Goodman said, "An old gift from the family. They're odd, but they've grown on me over the years." 

"Cool . . . do you know where I can get some?" 

"No, I've never seen them on anyone else," said Dr. Goodman. "Not yet." 

Dr. Goodman talked with Kara and then Kimberly for quite a long time, long enough for Vera-san to come downstairs, leaving Vic-san to do all the yelling. She looked like she wanted to yell at the girls, too, but instead, after a moment, disappeared into the kitchen. 

Finally Dr. Goodman started talking to Michelle. 

"What are you, some kind of shrink? Doctor?" sneered Michelle. 

"No, I'm a paleontologist." 

"She studies old fossils," said Usagi. 

"I know what that means, Jap. I'm not an old fossil. Study someone else. Hey, I thought you came here to visit the Jap? You haven't said much to her." Michelle went back to hiding behind her magazine. 

"Well," said the lady in gray, "Perhaps I've overstayed my welcome." 

"Do you have to go?" asked Usagi, not exactly sure why she wanted her to stay. Whatever she read from this woman, she felt it was just what the woman wanted her to read. 

"Yes, do you have to go?" asked Chibi-Usa, taking the baby from Kimberly and putting it in its carrier again. 

"I think so . . . Here, you should be able to reach me at one of these numbers, if you keep trying. Or I might call you . . . can either of you sit? Baby-sit?" She handed Usagi a business card; there was a lot of handwriting on the back. "Oh, before I forget, I think you left this behind." She dug out a tiny package from her gray slacks: tissue, tied up with string, and handed that to Usagi as well. And in moments, she was gone. 

Before anyone could wonder what the lady in gray was about, Vera-san came back from the kitchen and found a reason to yell at each and every one of them. Usagi put the card and the little package into her pocket and forgot about them for the rest of what was a very long evening. All the pleasantness of the day was finished. 

* * *

Jimmy-chan came by to take them to the library in the afternoon of the next day. He noticed immediately. "Where did you get that?" he said, pointing to her left hand. 

"The gray lady." 

"Who?" 

"The gray lady. Dr. Goodman, that woman who gave the lecture." 

"She gave you that?" asked Jimmy. 

Usagi said, "She returned it. I didn't know . . ." 

"What's wrong?" 

Chibi-Usa whispered to her, "_Okasan_, Vic-san and Vera-san are watching. Get in the car." Usagi obeyed, without protest. Chibi-Usa guided Jimmy back to his side of the car, squeezing into the back herself and immediately tugging at him to finish getting in. He had trouble inserting the key. But after what seemed like a long, long time, he started the car, and drove them all away. Just in time, because the Gants were beginning to come out to the car, ready to ask all sorts of questions that shouldn't be answered. 

* * *

They didn't go to the library. Jimmy drove a long way, up into the hills. Finally they stopped at a vista point. They weren't alone there, but the other people were strangers, and there weren't many of them. They walked to a spot which wasn't close to any of the other people. Usagi sat down on a rock, careless of her dress--not like her now, when every decent bit of clothing she had was a struggle to find and pay for and resize. 

Jimmy want to ask her a thousand questions, but he didn't ask her any. He accepted Chibi-Usa's tug, and they walked off, leaving Usagi staring at the ground, fingering her ring. 

"What is that ring?" he asked Chibi-Usa when they were far enough away. 

Chibi-usa said, "It is ring _otousan_ give her. She always wear it." 

"_Otousan_?" 

"Mamo-chan. My father." 

"Oh." 

They walked a little more. "I sorry _okasan_ break your heart. She not mean to." 

Jimmy said, "That's old news. But why is she so torn up? I'd think she'd be glad to have it back." 

"She very glad. But she cry when she find it is ring gray lady gave her. She cry very hard. Like you see me cry?" 

"She turned into an angel?" 

"Not--how you say--not same form, but she change. First time since she come here." 

"Well," said Jimmy, with a great stone on his heart, "She must miss your father very much." 

"Yes. Very much, Jimmy-chan." 

"Well . . . I guess that's it. I keep wanting this all to be a dream, but it is all true? Just like the cartoons?" 

"No, not just like . . . real. It is different. But something like it. Rearry is Sairrormoon." Chibi-Usa was managing a gentle joke. Her grasp of English grammer was still loose, especially when she was excited, but her pronunciation was good; she didn't have much trouble with her "L"s or even the two different forms of "th." "Maybe you rearn Japanese. Many prerry Japanese girr." She made eyes at him. 

"Not you, little Usagi. If I had what I really want, I would be your father." He patted her on her head, and then hugged her. 

"You will make a good otousan. Maybe I find someone for you?" 

"I think your friends are a little young for me." He turned back toward Usagi. She was looking at him, at them. She waved, without great enthusiasm, but she had to be at least a little better. 

* * *

As they drove back down from the hills, Jimmy thought to ask something. "Usagi, no one saw you change last night, did they?" 

"I don't know." 

Chibi-Usa leaned forward and said, "I think no one saw. No one said anything. It was late; we were in our room. I made them forget social worker lady. I think that they pay no attention to us now, most of the time, because of that." 

"Most of the time, they don't notice what you are doing?" 

Usagi said, "Yes. As long as we do not make trouble and do all the work, they do not yell at us much." 

"What about the other foster kids?" 

"Not them. We do not know them well. I do not; Chibi-Usa knows some better. Kimberly. But I stay away from them. Too much, I think, now. I think I have been mean to some of them who weren't mean to us . . . but they do not think much about us. We are, how you say, squares?" 

"That's about forty years out of date, but you're right. You're not like the others, and not just because you are--what you are. Not even because you are Japanese. You haven't been in any real trouble with the law. And your parents haven't . . . well . . ." 

Chibi-Usa spoke up again. "I know the bad things some parents and step-parents do." 

"I mean . . . I mean . . ." 

"You talk about sex," said Chibi-usa. "I know. I am not _little_ child, Jimmy-chan." 

Usagi said in Japanese, "You are not grown up yet, Small Lady." 

"But I am not little . . . not like I was." 

"No, not like you were. Just don't get too big too fast . . ." She reached back to squeeze her daughter's hands, and then switched back to English. "No, we are not like the others. But they aren't all bad people. I felt bad yesterday because I did look at them to see if they were bad or not." 

"You can't reform them all. They aren't monsters you can do that thing you do--is that real?" 

"Yes, it is real." 

"Well, they aren't monsters. You can't change them into different people, can you?" 

"I don't know." 

Chibi-Usa said something unexpected. "You said it was better not to do that." 

"I did?" asked Usagi. 

"Yes . . . when you were the Queen." 

"What was that?" asked Jimmy, left out because they had slipped into Japanese again. 

Usagi said, "It was . . . never mind. I think I have hurt people I should not have hurt." 

"Are you feeling guilty about the social worker?" 

"No. She was doing many bad things. Her heart was full of nothing but greed. I have felt more sorry for monster I kill than her . . . What you think, policeman guess?" 

"POLICEMAN?" He pulled the car over. 

"Policeman--The policeman who came before the gray lady yesterday. He ask--asked--questions about social worker lady. Ms. Chi-Ri-Coat." 

"Chilicothe," corrected Chibi-Usa. And while Jimmy tried to swallow his heart again, the two sometime-angel girls explained how Mr. Arteminski seemed to think Dr. Watanabe might have murdered the social worker. Usagi went on to explain about the old man who had started the whole thing. 

"Why did that cop tell you all that?" 

"Maybe I did it," said Chibi-Usa. "I can put things in people's minds sometimes. Or maybe _okasan_. Sometimes she can make people do what she wants." 

"I can?" asked Usagi. 

"Yes. When you were Queen, and I have seen you do it to Vic-San and Vera-san and some other people." 

Jimmy reached into the glove compartment and pulled out his cigarettes, which surprised the girls--and put them back. "Picked it up in boot camp. Trying to quit." 

"Please, quit," said both of the girls at about the same time. 

That made Jimmy laugh in spite of all the tension, or maybe because of it. When he was finished, he said, "Well, the cops don't suspect you." 

"But they think Watanabe-sama did it," said Chibi-Usa. 

"At least this Arteminski-man thinks so," said Usagi. 

"But they don't have a body. You turned her into dust. And you did that hypnotism thing to everyone, Chibi-Usa. Nobody remembers seeing it." 

"I do not think they will forget forever, Jimmy-chan," said Chibi-Usa. "I can put thoughts in, but people forget after I am gone. Some others who saw it are not in our house now." 

"Where are they?" asked Jimmy. 

Both girls shrugged. "Vic-san and Vera-san do not know. They do not care. Not much." 

Jimmy pulled out his cigarettes again, got out of the car, and lit up. After a few drags, he put out his butt, field-stripped it--and then threw the pack across the road. He turned back, leaned inside, and said, "If anyone remembers, would they tell anyone? What do you think would happen if anyone told? They'd be locked up. They locked you up--your Watanabe-sama you are so worried about--he put you in the looney bin because he just _suspected_ you thought you were Sailor Moon. You never actually claimed you were. What do you think they'd do with anyone who says they actually saw you doing your stuff?" 

"I cannot let them put Watanabe-sama in jail. He is wrong about some things, but he is not bad man. If he really was partner like Arteminski-san think, I make him into dust too. But I cannot let him go to jail for what I do." 

Jimmy said, "Even if you tell them what you did, they would just put you away and go right on thinking he did it." 

"Yes . . . Yes, that is true. But I cannot let this happen." 

"Is that what has been on your mind? Not your Mamo-chan?" 

"Mamo-chan is always an ache in my heart. And now I hurt to see you hurt. But I will find a way to help Watanabe-sama. I must. It is my fault he is in trouble." 

Jimmy wanted to kiss her deeply. But he kissed her on the forehead, feeling a strange tingling for a moment. Then he drove them back home. They didn't talk about anything else of importance--in fact, Usagi didn't talk at all, and Chibi-Usa soon fell asleep, something she was always liable to do--as was Usagi, normally, but she was always awake when Jimmy glanced at her, looking out at what he couldn't guess. At the end of it, he said, "Pick you up for school tomorrow?" 

"Yes, thank you, Jimmy-chan." She roused Chibi-Usa, and they started back to their foster home, where the voices of both Gants were railing away. 

But Jimmy called out something. "What about Dr. Goodman?" 

They turned back, and walked back to the car. "What do you mean?" asked Usagi. 

"She brought you your ring. And the last time she came, you two got together. Maybe she can help you with Watanabe." 

"Why?" asked Usagi. 

"Why did she help you before?" 

* * *

They thought a long time about what Jimmy had brought up, and talked about it, lowly, quite afraid to wake up anyone because Vic-san and Vera-san were so very quick to start yelling. But they decided nothing. All they knew was that the gray lady knew who they were. Was she a friend? An enemy just playing with them? The thought of fighting an enemy who was the mother of a tiny baby made them almost sick. They fell asleep holding each other. 

* * *

Chibi-Usa had been wrong about no one seeing . . .

* * *

**Chapter 11: Theory **

CHIBI-USA AND USAGI woke up to more terrible news. During the night, the police had found the bodies of the two girls who had disappeared after leaving their Halloween party. They did not tell very much more than that to the reporters. Looking at the face of the officer who made the announcement--none other than Mr. Arteminski--they thought they must have died very terrible deaths, to move a man as cold as this one.

* * *

Usagi wore her ring to school. She thought about it first, knowing what questions it would bring. But this plain ring with its tiny stone was the most precious _thing_ she had. If she had still had it, she would rather give up the _ginzuishou _than this, the ring Chibi-Usa remembered her wearing a thousand years from now. Even if that future had forever unraveled, with only Chibi-Usa and her memories left, that meant everything. Even if they never returned to their world, never saw Mamo-chan again . . . _Especially_ if that was to be, pray that she might.

No one _asked_ her, actually, even the girls she was fairly friendly with. Boys had stopped approaching her quite awhile ago, except to tease, and usually not when Jimmy was around. There were only three boys left who ever teased her, all short, slight persons that Jimmy or even Usagi would feel guilty about beating up. All freshmen, and usually together.

They sat at the table she was sharing with Jimmy at lunch, and made kissy-noises and worse. One of them stage-whispered, "She must be knocked up. That's why she won't talk. She's not sure who did it!"

Jimmy started to jump up, but Usagi grabbed his leg under the table and pinched until he sat down again. But she did say something. "You should suck each other's penises now. No girl ever will." She did not whisper. Everyone around laughed except the three annoying boys, who went off to the other side of the cafeteria.

But when they were gone, she realized that everyone else assumed that Jimmy had given her the ring. She went on eating, and thought at the same time, seeing that people around were looking at them, and saying things to each other. She thought rather idly that if she tried, she could probably hear some of their thoughts . . . but she didn't want to. Really, she didn't need to. Let them think she had promised herself to Jimmy-chan. _If it were not for Mamo-chan_ . . . let them think what they thought.

* * *

At Chibi-Usa's middle school, where the girls had been students, classes were cancelled for the last two periods to hold an assembly for the girls.Mr. Artiminski was also there, giving a talk about how to guard against a killer like the man who had done this thing. It was good advice, heartfelt--but while he was giving that speech, he kept looking at Chibi-Usa, who was sitting in the first row. She felt he knew something about her, and she did not try to use her power to make herself unnoticed, as she had many times--she thought if she did, it would make _him_ notice her more.

Two ministers, a priest, and a rabbi-one of the girls had been Jewish--gave their various prayers and blessings. And then they did something disturbing--they asked if some of the children of other faiths would care to add their prayers. It was as if they called out to right to her. So she went up along with a boy who wore a turban all the time and a girl who said her family was "wiccan," whatever that was. They did their ceremonies first, leaving Chibi-Usa to go last. She did not know exactly what to do, so while they all waited for her to do something, she put her hands over her eyes and thought of what was in her heart. She thought of the man, somewhere, who could do this terrible thing, and what she wanted to do. So, she put her palms together like Hino-san or Ikuko-mama would do at a shrine, touched them to her forehead and and bowed down, and whispered, "Goddess of the Moon, find this man quickly." She rose back up, and bent down again, lower. Then she whispered, loud enough for the people near her to hear, "If I find you, killer-man, in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

She was still short enough so that, bowed, she was hidden from the crowd by the lectern. As she opened her eyes, after a short silence that seemed correct, she saw a tiny glow in the polished tile below her--for a moment. Her sigil had lit up. Chibi-Usa rose slowly and looked about her. The people below were puzzled. The men and women and fellow students close to her on the stage seemed to be looking at her more closely. She did not feel they knew; they hadn't seen. Perhaps only people with the gift could see the sigils.

But Mr. Arteminski the policeman looked at her like he knew something he hadn't a moment ago.

Chibi-Usa started speaking to him in Japanese, without thinking. "Do you think you will catch the man soon?" But she could see that he didn't understand, so she asked again in English.

"I hope so. But I won't lie. Sometimes we never catch these people."

"I prayed that he will be caught soon."

* * *

Driving over to pick up Chibi-Usa, Jimmy asked Usagi, "How do you want me to act? They're going to notice we never kiss."

"Ne-e-eh. Do not worry. Mamo-chan never wants to kiss me around people. Unless I am dying."

Jimmy laughed, then tried to stop himself, saw that Usagi was laughing too, and laughed again.

But while they were waiting for a stop light, they saw newspapers in vending machines, and the biggest headlines were about the murdered girls. They did not laugh any more after that.

When they got to Chibi-Usa's middle school, they found her waiting with three others: a boy in a turban, a girl with a dry wreath of some kind on her head, and a man in a well-worn suit: Arteminski, the policeman. He came over to the car along with the others. Jimmy had never met him, but he knew him for a cop. He wondered what to say or not to say, but the cop was there before he could do much thinking. Usagi got out of the car, pushed the seat forward for Chibi-Usa, and then spoke.

"Arteminski-san, I saw you on the television. You are looking for the man who killed the girls now."

"Yes, along with every other policeman. I haven't met your friend."

"This is my _sempai,_ Jimmy-chan," Usagi said, holding up her left hand to be sure he saw the ring.

"Well, that's new."

"Jimmy-chan was not here last summer. He was in--how you say?"

"Boot camp," said Jimmy. "Marines. I go back after I graduate."

Arteminski held out his hand. "I was in Marines."

"You were in the USMC?" Jimmy shook the hand uncertainly.

"_Soviet_ Marines! Before I went to Israel. Then I came here."

"Wow!" Jimmy admired the cop, at least for the moment.

Chibi-Usa got into climbed into the car and pulled Usagi's seat back. Usagi got back in. But just before they were about to leave, Chibi-Usa leaned forward and spoke to the cop. "So, you will catch this killer-man, and leave Watanabe-sama alone?"

The cop smiled strangely and said nothing; he just waved. But he was quite close to Usagi, and she heard something. She pretended she had dropped something and bent down, so that the policeman could not see her face. She did not get up until Jimmy had driven away. She wondered whether she should tell the others, but they had to wait in a queue of cars to leave the school area, and Jimmy had time to look at her. "What's wrong?"

"The policeman. He thinks Watanabe-sama is the man."

"What? The psychiatrist? That's apples and oranges."

"Apples and oranges?"

"Doesn't go together. Serial killers kill strangers for some sick thrill. But the cop thinks Watanabe killed the woman to shut her up."

"No, I know what he was thinking . . . One of the murdered girls, and the one who is still missing, they were his patients. He thinks that he killed the social worker, found he liked it, and started killing young girls."

"We have to warn Watanabe-sama," said Chibi-Usa.

"No!" said Jimmy.

"No? Why do you say that?" said Usagi, shocked and beginning to get angry.

"You don't know . . . The cop is wrong about the social worker, but he might _not_ be wrong about the girls. Think about it. They would _trust_ him."

"I did not see that in his heart."

"I did not," said Chibi-Usa. "I cannot read as well as mama, but--"

"If the cop is _right,_ this guy might not even _know_ he is the guy. Maybe he can keep himself from remembering what he does . . . you've told me some pretty scary stuff, and I believe it. Can you believe what I tell you?"

Usagi thought for a second, and then put her hand on Chibi-Usa's. "Jimmy-chan is right. We don't know. You shouldn't be alone with him . . ." She wrinkled her forehead, thinking. "If he did do this, he may not be punished for it, because the police will not be able to prove he killed the social worker."

"What are you talking about?" said an unfamiliar voice. It was a woman from the van that had just come up along Usagi's side of the car.

"TV show!" said Usagi, after a few seconds.

"Well, roll up your windows. I don't let my kids watch that crap and I don't want them to hear you talking about it."

She noticed that the woman had all the teasing boys in the back, along with some smaller girls of elementary-school age. _One of them must be her son,_ she thought. None of them looked like they had really heard all of what they had been talking about . . . but she had to be careful.

But as she looked at the other car, she saw some people walking past it on the other side. Police, and a woman. 

"What's _she_ doing here?" asked Jimmy.

It was Dr. Goodman, the lady in gray. She spoke with Arteminski for a long time while Jimmy's car moved ever-so-slowly toward the street exit. Try as she could, Usagi didn't hear a word or a thought. But before the long wait was over, Arteminski and some of the other police hurried out of the schoolyard. The gray lady did not go with them. In fact, Usagi had no idea where she had gone.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Nancy **

JIMMY'S SISTER didn't go to his school. She was still in middle school, the same as Sarah, the little sister of his strange girlfriend Sue. Nancy was in her last year while Sarah was in her first. Despite the age difference, she had tried to be friendly with the odd little girl, but Sarah seemed to avoid her and nearly everyone else. She'd been moved by what Sarah had done at the assembly for the murdered girls, although she didn't understand a bit of it. But Sarah still avoided her; she only seemed to be becoming close friends with Kimberly and the the two other strange kids who had participated in the memorial with her. Nancy gave up, and began to resent her almost as much as she did Sue.

And then, just to make Nancy even madder, Sarah would surprise her by suddenly revealing that she _had_ been thinking of her. Sarah gave her a stupid necklace made of colored paper cranes for her birthday. She offered to braid her hair like her own, and said it would look just like hers, since they were both strawberry blondes. Nancy responded to that offer by having her hair cut very short, though she blew all the money she had been saving up for two months getting it done by a stylist.

Not surprisingly, Nancy didn't like riding with Jimmy in his car because he nearly always had Sue or Sarah or both with him. She hated how Jimmy acted around Sue, and she thought the two girls were stuck-up; they never seemed to want to talk to about anything when she was around, or if they did, they spoke mostly Japanese. She preferred to ride her bike, anyway.

Nancy's mother and stepfather didn't want her to ride her bike any more after the murdered girls were found, but Nancy could argue better than Jimmy. She went on riding her bike. But after two more girls disappeared, her stepfather hauled off her bike along with all the others and locked them up in his storage place. "You don't go anywhere on your own now." Her mother agreed, and wouldn't listen to any of Nancy's arguments, or anyone else's.

Nancy did know Kimberly, who lived in the same foster home as Sue and Sarah. Kimberly was in between Sarah and herself in age. Actually, Nancy had known her from a few years before. Nancy had wanted to get to know her again, to find out what had put her in the foster care system, but Kimberly wouldn't tell her what had happened. On her only visit, she had found that Kimberly was very close to Sarah--and she got the impression that Sarah knew Kimberly's secret. She left as soon as she saw how things were, and had not come back to the foster home Kimberly shared with Sarah and Sue until this morning.

They were picking up Sue and Sarah again, but this time Kimberly got into her brother's tiny car too. Sarah got into the middle, as usual, so she could lean forward and talk to Sue. They immediately began exchanging words in Japanese.

Nancy shook her head and looked across to Kimberly. She was staring at Sue, with a strange expression. That was not to be endured, so Nancy spoke up. "Kimberly. How are things?"

Kimberly seemed to jump a bit. Finally she replied, "All right, I suppose . . . I'm having some trouble in math."

"Why don't you come over to my place tonight? I'll see if I can help you."

"Uh, I'd have to get permission--"

"You'll get it. It's not like _Sarah_ or _Sue_ could help you out with _math._"

"Well . . . Okay."

The odd sisters didn't seem to have taken notice at all. They kept leaning up to Jimmy and whispering things.

* * *

"No, we haven't seen Dr. Goodman," whispered Usagi. "I keep calling the numbers she left me, but all I can do is leave message."

"Well, just keep trying, she's got to be in _sometime._"

"Jimmy-chan, she might be an enemy."

"You've said that before . . . if she wants to meet you somewhere, we'll all go together."

"Jimmy-chan, you are brave, but you have never seen enemies like I have fought. You have no powers."

"She won't know that . . . I hope. But promise me you won't go off alone. Promise on your ring?"

Usagi hesitated, but she made the gesture. She held up her left hand, and squeezed her ring between her right thumb and forefinger. "I promise on my ring," she said aloud. She turned back and said to Chibi-Usa, "You promise too, spore!" in Japanese.

"I promise, _okasan_." But she crossed her fingers behind her back, a trick her _gaijin_ friends had taught her.

* * *

Nancy didn't usually pay much attention to what Sue and Sarah said or did, other than resentment at being left out. But she wondered what Sue had promised--and at what Sarah had said. ___Okasan__?_ Wasn't that Japanese for "mother?" She'd had Japanese culture thrown at her ever since Jimmy had taken up with this crazy girl; some of it stuck. Had Sarah called Sue her _mother_? But she didn't understand what else Sarah had said, so she couldn't be sure. Maybe she was promising on their mother's grave, or something like that.

Then she looked back at Kimberly, and saw that she wasn't surprised at all . . .

* * *

Not only did the foster parents give Kimberly permission to visit; they suggested she spend the night--they didn't want her out late. This sounded decidedly odd--and then the other shoe dropped. Sue and Sarah were going to sleep over, too.

Once they were there, Sarah and Sue began playing with the baby--they had sat him several times by now, and he seemed to like them much better than he did Nancy, another reason to resent them, as if she didn't already have enough. But at least that left her alone to work with Kimberly, although it took awhile to get _her_ away from the baby. She was all misty-eyed when she came with Nancy to the study, but wouldn't say more than, "I just like babies so much." to explain.

She was serious about improving her math, and Nancy found that the whole evening had passed by the time Kimberly said she'd had enough. Obviously she was going to need more help, but it was a good start. Since Nancy's last beau had dumped her for a girl with twice the bosom and half the intelligence, she would have plenty of time to help Kimberly.

It was after midnight. Walking through the living room on the way to the stairs with Kimberly, Nancy saw that Sue was asleep in a chair, under a blanket, snoring quite loudly. She shook her head, remembering the sight of her half-naked in the back yard. "Let's wake her up."

"No, don't do that."

"Why not? You know, the last time she did this, we caught her with Jimmy later on."

"No you didn't."

"What are you talking about? You weren't there. I saw her with Jimmy, bare tits and all. My stepsisters think it was all a big joke, but I don't think it was funny. What is it with you? You look at her like she's a little goddess all the time. She's just a dumb blond who pretends she doesn't fuck. And now my brother is going to marry her, unless someone brings him to his senses. And her sister--"

"She's not what you think."

"And how do you know? You want to tell me? I think I was just about your best friend before. Why won't you tell me anything now? You tell her, don't you? And that sister of hers--if they are really sisters. Maybe they're lezzies--"

"No, they aren't lezzies."

"How can you be sure of that?"

"Because I've seen them together . . . when they couldn't see me."

"How?"

Kimberly looked around, and sobbed. "Nancy, you really were my bestest friend. I'll tell you everything. But you've got to promise not to tell anyone else."

Nancy said, "Let's go back into the study. I don't think anyone can hear us in there."

Kimberly went back to what had happened to destroy her family--it was incest, confirming Nancy's terrible suspicion: a stepbrother had raped her, and then his father. She'd had a baby and they'd taken it away, and now she wanted to see it, even if she couldn't have it back. She'd been terrified of boys ever since, until Sarah had beat up two boys who were tormenting her. Ever since, she had depended on Sarah or Sue to protect her.

"Well, I guess I'm not a karate kid," remarked Nancy.

"No, but you are still my friend . . . I shouldn't have stayed away from you. But after I found out . . ."

"Found out what?"

Kimberly was silent for a long moment. "I thought I heard someone." Then she went on. "Do you remember the Halloween party?"

"Yes." She shuddered. "I remember seeing Viviana leave with Amber after she fell into the punch."

"Do you remember how Sarah and Sue dressed up?"

"Yes. Funny costumes. Some Jap cartoon."

"Sailor Moon. They were supposed to be Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon."

"I don't know anything about--_chibi?_"

"It means 'little,' or 'small,' or sometimes 'Junior.' Chibi Moon is Sailor Moon's daughter. How do you know 'chibi?'"

"I noticed that Sue and even Jimmy sometimes call Sarah _'chibi-'_something. Or sometimes 'chibi-usa'"

"That would be 'little Usagi.'" 'Small Lady' or 'Small Bunny'--same thing in Japanese."

"If you say so . . . so they are really into this cartoon. So what?"

Kimberly sighed. "Yes, that's what I thought at first. But a week later . . ."

* * *

It had been a long day. Kimberly just wanted to hide under the covers forever after the hours of ranting. But Michelle and Kara insisted she come out with them to the backyard, so they could smoke. The other girls always waited until they were sure the Gants were both asleep. The boys, right next to the Gants' bedroom, could never sneak out; the door on their room would always stick and make a big noise when it opened. Since Mr. Gant was a carpenter, Kimberly knew this must not be an accident.

Kimberly didn't like smoking much, but it was something to share. She would rather be with Sue and Sarah, but they had their own tiny room.

"Geez," said Michelle, "what was _with_ that woman today? I thought the Jap girls were the weirdest people I would ever meet, but that Doctor was a real piece of work." She took a drag that burned down her smoke a good half-inch."

Kimberly took a tiny puff and began coughing. Michelle whacked her on the back and said, "Not loud, you'll wake them up!" Then she turned to Kara, and began talking about the last time she had had sex with a boy. Kimberly moved away until she couldn't hear them clearly.

She looked up to the dormer window which opened into the tiny attic-room Sarah and Sue shared. The lights were off, but the window was open to the warm night, and a streetlight shown in. She could see Sue step up to the window and do something with her hands. And then--

* * *

"She what?"

"She transformed. I saw it. No flashing lights or anything, but I _saw_ it."

"Transformed?"

Kimberly sighed. "You don't get it? Your brother never told you _anything?_"

"Told me what?"

"Sue is Sailor Moon. She _really is Sailor Moon!_ And Sarah isn't her sister. She's her _daughter._"

That explained a lot to Nancy. She hugged her friend, understanding at last.

Her friend was out of her mind.

* * *

Nancy at first wanted to ask Jimmy or her parents what to do, but then she thought better of it. That might cause trouble. Much as she resented Sue and Sarah, she didn't think this was their fault; they might be annoying, and Sue wasn't nearly good enough for Jimmy, but they didn't deserve to be dragged into this. Still, Kimberly needed help. So, she made an appointment with the school counselor, and she told her what Kimberly had told her. She was breaking a promise, technically, but promises made to crazy people didn't count.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Dr. Watanabe's Lies **

PHILLIPA LOWENSTEIN of course first assumed that Nancy was the one with the real problem, but she changed her mind not too far into the interview. The girl had a normal range of resentments for a child in a blended family, and in fact seemed better-adjusted than most, at least from the first interview. Phillipa arranged for a second, of course, but she already had a casebook on Kimberly. Given the girl's history--and what _wasn't_ in the records she could access--she decided it would be best to consult with her last primary mental health caregiver before proceeding any further. The person she needed to see was Dr. Harold Watanabe.

* * *

"So, this girl thinks she is Sailor Moon?" asked Dr. Watanabe.

"No, she thinks some other girl she knows is . . . at least according to her friend. I decided to see you before confronting her. This could all be a prank, but I doubt it. The girl is very stressed. I'd rather she not be placed in a group home, but--"

"But who is going to take a thirteen-year-old girl with problems like hers." He smiled grimly. "Almost no one. I used to know--"

"Used to know?"

He remembered something behind that blind spot. _Adoption._ That _was Chilicothe's specialty. She could place some of the toughest cases . . . why can't I_ remember?

"Doctor?"

"Oh . . . sorry, lost in thought there for a minute . . . I used to know someone who could place a case like her, but she's gone now."

"She died?"

"Actually, I don't know. She vanished . . . the police were looking for her, but I think they've given up."

"Was she a victim of--"

"The Ghost Killer? God, I hate the names the reporters make up for these sociopaths . . . I think it romanticizes them, makes a few more of them take the plunge."

"Perhaps."

"No, I'm fairly certain she wasn't a victim of our latest serial killer. She hardly fits into the pattern . . . ah, about this girl." He thumbed through his paper file folders. "Kimberly C., Kimberly D . . . Kimberly J., that's her. Hmmm . . . She's definitely got problems, but she was never delusional . . I think the other girl must be trying to get her. See her again before you confront Kimberly."

"That's not how I read it, but I'll take your advice. . . Is there something else?"

Dr. Watanabe held up his hand for a long moment. He looked to Ms. Lowenstein as if he was straining to remember something. "If you don't mind . . . I've changed my mind. I would like to see this girl myself. I'm afraid my records are a little out of date . . . do you know where she is staying now?"

"With the Gant family. It's in the copy of the report I gave you."

"Oh . . . Oh, it is . . . " _How could I have missed it?_ "Well, thank you, Ms. Lowenstein. Oh, don't talk to either one of the girls until you hear from me, will you? I should be able to see them both by the end of the week." He showed her out.

* * *

Driving back to her office, Philippa Lowenstein thought about Dr. Watanabe. He was far above her on the pecking order in the mental health community. But she wondered if all those years dealing with criminal sociopaths had begun to twist him. Then again, who would she tell?

She recorded what she remembered of the interview, and transcribed it herself at home that evening. She chased her husband and her own daughter out of her study while she was doing it, and didn't explain. Since she didn't do things like that very often, they let it pass. She filed the report in her safe, deleting all copies of it in her computer. For now, it didn't exist. But if Dr. Watanabe fell from grace, she would have something to keep her from being dragged down with him.

* * *

By now Dr. Watanabe had figured out something: Every time he visited the Gant home, he experienced memory lapses. In fact, just thinking about going there again was difficult. Buried in his subconscious was something that he didn't want to remember, and it was associated with the Gant home.

He decided not to fight what seemed to be a losing battle. Instead, he would investigate outside the Gant home. Since Ms. Lowenstein had jogged his memory where months of his own efforts had failed, he was sure this had something to do with the mystery of the Gant home, the missing records, and the missing Ms. Chilicothe. And something to do with a crazy Japanese cartoon: Sailor Moon. His older daughters had moved on to other crazes (and boys, unfortunately), but the youngest still was a "moonie." Now here was a girl who _might_ think she had "really" seen Sailor Moon. Somehow, there was a connection . . .

Visiting the school where the girl who was supposed to have the delusion was certain to attract attention. He'd have to do it. _But first . . . visit the girl who reported it._

* * *

The girl who had made the report lived in a large house in an upscale neighborhood, though not at the top of the scale. But Dr. Watanabe found that the house was just big enough for the large blended family that lived there: the girl had seven siblings, half-siblings, or step-siblings. Her mother and stepfather were surprised to have Dr. Watanabe dropping in and more than a little edgy, but they accepted his presence, as did the girl. Before leaving him alone with the girl, her mother apologized. "I'm sorry. This Ghost Killer has got everyone on edge. We don't let our kids out of our sight for a second now."

Once they were alone, he asked the girl why she had reported her friend. "I'm scared for her. If she believes something like this, she could do something stupid, like run away."

"You didn't tell her what you felt?"

"No. She really believes it. I'm not a shrink. I just wanted to make sure she gets help."

"I read Dr. Lowenstein's report. You said you resented your friend for ignoring you and spending all her time with other girls."

"With Sarah and Sue. Sue is the one who Kimberly thinks is this Sailor Moonie."

"Sailor Moon . . . One of my daughters is a big fan."

"That's nice . . . I didn't do this to get back at Kimberly for ignoring me. She really believes this crap."

He turned to a fresh page in his notebook, and took out a pen. "You said these other girls were Sarah and . . . _Sue?_"

"Sarah and Sue Kino. Real oddballs. They don't look like it, but they're Japanese. They grew up in Japan, and they speak Japanese all the time to each other. Their English is pretty bad . . . sometimes, especially when they get excited."

_Sue Kino . . . Tsuki-no, "of the moon." Another look behind that blind spot . . ._ "I see . . . where did your friend meet these girls?"

"They live with her. You said Kimberly was your patient, why didn't you know that?"

"Why? . . . she _was_ my patient, but I haven't seen her for some time. But from what you are telling me, I need to see her again . . . where does she live now?" He had forgotten already.

"With the Gants. They run this creepy group home for foster kids." 

"Yes . . . I've had occasion to visit there more than once . . . I'm sorry I doubted you, but Kimberly's mental health is vulnerable. I had to be sure."

"Are you going to lock her up? I don't want that."

"No, not for now." _It might be for the best, but if I order it . . ._ "I'll talk to her school counsellor again. Maybe--"

* * *

There had been a growing bustle in the meantime from the front of the house. Some people had entered. There had been words, louder and louder. Nancy was about to get up and see what was happening; the doctor had been too absorbed to notice.

Jimmy burst into the study and found the doctor and Nancy. He grabbed Nancy by the shoulders, and said, "Did he ask you to come with him?"

"No. What is--"

Jimmy embraced her, crushingly. Then he pushed her back with one hand and with the other, pointed to the doctor. "You can't trust him!"

The doctor said, "Who are you? What are you--"

"I'm her brother, _doctor._"

* * *

Nancy was speechless. Now her _brother_ had completely flipped out. Her mother and her stepfather came in, and everyone else in the house began crowding in. There was rattling at the back door to the study, but it was locked. Nancy didn't think about opening it long enough to do it; she was too dumfounded by what she heard next.

Her stepfather asked, "Jimmy, what has got _into_ you?"

"You want to know who the police think is the Ghost Killer? HIM!" He stabbed his finger toward Dr. Watanabe.

Dr. Watanabe protested: "That is nonsense! The police--"

Then Nancy saw Sue Kino and her sister push gently past her father and stepfather. Sue said something in Japanese, and then--

* * *

"You are lying, Watanabe-sama," said someone, in Japanese.

Dr Watanabe recognized that voice. He turned his head and there she was: Sue Kino. _Tsukino_ _Usagi._ The crazy girl they had asked him to talk to more than a year ago--a year and a half. Speaking perfect, colloquial Japanese. A crazy girl with an obsession about a Japanese cartoon.

And beside her, a strawberry blond girl who had come a half-year ago, with the same delusion. Speaking Japanese. He'd put her in with the first girl for awhile, to see what would happen.

And he remembered Ms. Chilicothe, who'd arranged a permanent adoption for the younger girl--he'd had reservations, but it was such a rare opportunity to get a good kid out of the foster care system.

And he remembered the last time he had seen the crescent glowing on the forehead of the first girl. As it was now . . . on both the girls . . .

* * *

Usagi remembered . . .

* * *

Dr. Watanabe came to see Usagi and Chibi-Usa a month into summer. He showed up unexpectedly, along with a social worker, a woman Usagi vaguely remembered. They spent a long time talking to their foster parents. Then Dr. Watanabe spent a few minutes with Usagi, and asked to speak with Chibi-Usa alone. The social worker led Usagi away, and then went back into the room, where they were doing their interviews.

The interview went on for a long time. Her foster parents started to tell her to go outside, but she shushed them without thinking much about it—it was Chibi-Usa on her mind. Again, she could hear no more than a word here and there, but she could tell that Chibi-Usa was getting more and more upset . . . as Usagi was herself.

Dr. Watanabe came out of their room and closed the door. Usagi could see that Chibi-Usa was crying; the social worker was bent over her, telling her that crying wouldn't help.

"What's going on? Why is she crying?"

"I just need to go to the bathroom—"

"You came to take her away, didn't you?"

He was surprised, but not that much. "We found a family that might be interested in a permanent adoption. That's very rare for someone as old as—_ah_—_Sarah._ Did you pick out that name for her?"

"She belongs with _me_. She is _my family._"

Dr Watanabe smiled, sadly. "I can see you care for her very much. But you are a ward of the court yourself. This will be best." He patted her shoulder, then started to gently shove her aside.

She threw him against the wall. He stared wide-eyed for an instant, then his eyes rolled back as he slid down the wall and onto the floor.

The social worker opened the door and gasped when she saw Dr. Watanabe. "What happened?"

"She—" some male voice said.

"I'm calling the police!" She pulled out a cellphone and began talking—

And it crumbled to dust in her hands.

The social worker stared at the dust streaming down from her hands, and then at Usagi. She held up her laptop computer like a shield, and that crumbled away too. 

"You are the one that made Dr. Watanabe want to take her away?"

The woman was frozen, trembling—stinking, as fright released her bowels. "It was for the best—" But what she was _thinking_ was different.

"Five thousand American Dollars? So little . . . I hope it was worth it to you . . . In the name of the Moon, I will _punish you!_"

"_Okasan_, _no!"_

The woman held her briefcase in front of her--to no avail. It took about ten seconds, but all that was left of the briefcase, and Ms. Chilicothe was a big pile of dust.

"_Kaasan_ . . ." Chibi-Usa winked out of her angel form, which caused the dust to scatter. But she was still naked, if normal, as on the night with Jimmy.

Usagi noticed that she was still clothed--she had halated without transforming, without even a gesture.

"_Kaasan_, you shouldn't have—"

"Maybe. But how many other children has she sold?" Taking her naked child into her arms, she kicked at the dust. "She left quite a mess, didn't she?"

"This can't be happening . . . what _are you??!"_ came a voice from behind. Dr. Watanabe's voice.

And there were sirens, getting louder . . .

* * *

Tsukino Usagi looked into the eyes of the doctor, and tried to look into his heart. She could see the glimmering reflection in his eyes, but did not care just now . . . but she did not not see the evil she was looking for. It might be hiding from her, but . . .

"I cannot see what is in your heart," she said, in Japanese. And then she said it again, in English, because she realized the doctor was so terrified he might not understand. The glimmer she had seen for a moment in his eyes was gone. She turned to Jimmy and Nancy's mother. "But he is lying about the police. They have seen him. Detective Arteminski thinks he is the one. I do not know if he is right, but that is what Arteminski-sama thinks."

Jimmy's mother froze for a moment. But when Dr. Watanabe began to speak, she screamed, "GET OUT!"

A few seconds later, her husband picked up Dr. Watanabe by the back of his coat, carried him to the front door, then across the lawn, and finally threw him against his car. "I've got a shotgun, you lying sicko _bastard_! If I see you here after I get it, I'm gonna _blow your fucking head off!_" Then he spat in the doctor's face.

* * *

"Omigod!. . . Omigod!" Nancy said over and over and over in her mother's arms.

Her stepfather came in, came up to them, and put a hand on her head--the one that wasn't holding the shotgun. "He's gone now."

"Gone? Where?"

"Who the fu--I don't know, but he's gone."

"He'll be after Kimberly next! Omigod, what have I done . . ."

"Kimberly?" asked her mother. "Your friend?"

"I thought she was crazy, I told the school counsellor, and she told that doctor!"

"Crazy? Why on earth would you think that?"

"When she was here two nights ago, she told me Sue was Sailor Moon! Of _course_ I thought she was crazy!"

"I don't understand, honey. What does Sue have to do with you thinking that your friend Kimberly is crazy?"

"Kim told me that she saw--"

Jimmy spoke up. "Sue dressed up as a cartoon character at Halloween. She was at the party those first two girls disappeared from. That's what she means."

"Kimberly believes that Sue is a cartoon character?"

"Yes," said Nancy, "Only . . ."

"Only what?"

"Only she thinks it's real . . . I guess she is kinda crazy, but not as crazy as this doctor. He could be going to her place! They don't know about that doctor!"

"They will." Jimmy picked up the phone, punched in a number, and spoke. "Mrs. Gant? This is Jimmy. My Mom needs to talk to you. Here she is . . ."

After he handed the phone to his mother, Jimmy bent over further and kissed his sister on the cheek, hugging her with one arm. As he finished, he whispered, "You can't tell them."

Nancy wasn't able to follow anything of what her mother said. She was looking at Sarah and Sue--or whoever--or _whatever_ they really were. _Jimmy must have known for a long time_ . . . 

Her mother set down the phone.

"What did they say?" asked Jimmy and her stepfather at the same time.

"They said Kimberly is missing. No one has seen her since dinnertime. They're calling the police now . . . omigod, do you think he . . ."

Nancy looked up through her tears to see Sue and Sarah slipping out of the back door of the study. The study had a skylight. She looked up through it, and, sure enough, in a few seconds more, two angels flew up from the back yard, and disappeared in the direction of the Gant house. She whispered, "Please, please don't be too late."

"What was that, honey?"

* * *

**Next: Angels**

* * *

**Send comments to: **[**sewell_thomas@hotmail.com**][1]  
Site: [http://www.geocities.com/oldgringo2001/dream/][2]

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	4. Default Chapter Title

**Sailor Moon's American Dream**

A **Sailor Moon** fan fiction by [**Thomas Sewell**][1]. 

...... = _thought quotation_

_...... This is Usagi reading someone else's thoughts._

**Chapter 14: ****Angels **

"STAY CLOSE, CHIBI-USA . . . Do you think you can use your powers to keep anyone from noticing us?"

"I'll try. But I've never flown so high before."

"Then just keep up and think about your flying. I don't want you to fall or run into anything."

"Yes, _okasan_."

Down below, a few hundred feet, it was getting darker every minute. The sun had set. Transformed, even naked, they didn't feel the cold as much, but they felt it, flying a little faster than the traffic below. They were hard to see, but not invisible, and they, in fact, caused three traffic accidents when drivers looked up at just the right time. But none of the police reports would later mention this. "Naked girl angels" was a phrase that looked very poor on an insurance claim.

They flew to their foster home, and began spiraling out from there. One of the things they discovered was that they could see quite well in their current forms; everything in shadow seemed to be in bright moonlight. Not as good as daylight, but good enough to see anything important.

The police were already beginning to search, but they weren't combing the most of the back areas, they wouldn't until morning, and that is where Usagi and Chibi-Usa kept looking. And in a dark, weed-grown field where no development had sprung up yet, Usagi found Kimberly.

Usagi said to Chibi-Usa, "Don't look," but of course she did, and shrieked loud enough to scare the feral dogs away from the body.

Usagi went down and took up what was left of Kimberly into her arms, and under her wings.

* * *

A car drove into the field. A real off-road vehicle, not a poseur. It didn't have its regular lights on. It drove to within 10 meters of them, beginning to alarm Chibi-Usa, but Usagi seemed not to notice. "_Okasan_?"

Someone got out of the car and walked toward them. Chibi-Usa struck her pose and prepared her magic. But it was her mother who called out behind her, "Did you do this?"

The gray lady answered, "No. If you don't believe me, turn me into moon dust. But you'll have Aura to take care of. She's in my car." She put her boot under the corpse of one of the feral dogs Chibi-Usa had killed, and kicked it aside.

After a moment, Usagi said, "Your heart seems clear. What do you want?"

"I want to help."

"You are too late. We are too late."

"Perhaps not." There was a crackle of voices from a radio in the lady's car. She went back to it, and switched on the lights. "Sorry, I can't see in the dark without this contraption," she said, taking off a funny pair of goggles, "And I can't wear them for what comes next." She pulled something from her car, and brought it with her. She shook it out, and it floated to the ground--it was made of silk, gray, with intricate colored designs. "Lay her down on this."

"What?"

"Just do it, we don't have much time. The police will be here very soon."

Usagi set down Kimberly as tenderly as she could. She picked up some parts that fell out, and put them where she thought they went, for some reason . . .

"Stand with me. Over her. There, and there. Hold hands. Try to help me."

"How?"

"Just try, there is only one chance to do this . . . " The gray lady let go of their hands and reached up to her face. "You have wings, I have only these. But they have their uses . . ."

The lady closed her hands on the feathers in her hair and pulled, very hard. She screamed in pain. Then she let the feathers fall down onto Kimberly's body. She grabbed onto their hands again and gripped them hard. Usagi felt that the woman's hand was hot, wet, and sticky now.

The woman said things in a language Usagi had never heard. Then she squeezed their hands even tighter and said--or _thought--God of my father, Gods of my mother, help me work my art. Help me undo what should not have been done. _She let go of their hands, and took out something else--a tiny hourglass. She put it into her mouth, and took their hands again. She bent down. Usagi could see that blood was streaming down from the side of her head, where she had pulled the feathers from. Usagi heard a _crunch, _and the woman spat out more blood. A stream of dust also flowed down from the tiny broken hourglass, glittering, golden in the headlights. When the stream ended, she spat out the rest of the hourglass and said, "Please, please work this time . . . help me. Help her." Then she began chanting in the unknown language again.

It was terrible to watch, but the magic began to work. Usagi prayed, "Goddess of the moon, help us bring her back . . ."

When it was done, the gray lady staggered away. "We have to get her away from here. The thread of her life is very thin now. I'm afraid the police could break it again. I can't get her past the police now. Can you fly with her?"

"I think so . . . yes."

"Then take her away. Is there a place you can take her besides that foster home?"

"Yes."

"Then go there. Before she wakes up, if possible . . ." They could hear sirens now, far away, but getting closer. "Wait. You, little one. Take her." She handed her baby to Chibi-Usa. "The police might arrest me. I don't want to lose Aura into foster care!"

"Come with us. Maybe--"

"I need to protect this place. The spell is still tied to here. It should be all right in a few minutes . . . go, go now!"

They flew off into the night. A policeman saw them for a moment just after they took off, but thought his eyes were playing tricks on him . . .

* * *

Usagi didn't have any real idea of what to do once they got back to Jimmy's place. Glancing down at the naked girl in her arms, even smaller than Chibi-Usa, though she had already born a child of her own, thinking of what she had been when she found her . . . there would be a way to keep her safe.

She circled around Jimmy's place with Chibi-Usa, looking, thinking . . . and then she saw something. "There, Chibi-Usa. We'll go there."

* * *

Nancy had been watching for what seemed forever when she saw them, just by chance, flying across the face of the moon. She switched on the light and opened the window. They must have seen it, because in a few moments, they flew in. Sue seemed to float in sideways, holding Kimberly, folding her wings to get through. She righted herself and set down lightly. Kimberly seemed to suddenly take on weight, and Nancy grabbed at her, helping Sue set her gently down onto the bed. As that happened, Sarah flew in. She was holding a baby. As soon as she set down, her wings shimmered, and then winked out of existance. She was still naked, and began shivering. Nancy got up and closed the window. Then she pulled the curtains closed.

There were so many things to ask, but the first thing that came to Nancy was, "Is that Kimberly's baby?"

"No, she belongs to the Gray Lady." said Sarah. 

"The Gray Lady?"

Sue said, "The Gray Lady is a witch. But a good one. She brought back Kimberly-chan."

Nancy looked back. Sue still had her angel wings; she had folded them around Kimberly. But there was something else . . . they were matted with blood.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, just very tired . . ."

Before Nancy's eyes, Sue's wings faded out. She fell back onto the bed along with Kimberly. But the blood that had been on her wings fell down in a crusty powder onto the carpet. And the erstwhile angel began snoring.

"_Okasan_ is very noisy at night," said Sarah. She went up to the bed, used one hand to pull the quilt over the Kimberly and Sue, and then asked, "Where are we going to sleep?"

* * *

**Chapter 15: Kimberly**

"GOOD MORNING. We have some extraordinary developments to report in the so-called Ghost Killer investigation. First, some very good news. Police have confirmed that thirteen-year-old Kimberly Jean Johanson, reported missing yesterday evening, has been found alive. Apparently she fled her foster care home. She was located by friends and taken to the home of a family which is declining to surrender her back into foster care. A temporary injunction was issued by Judge Bernice Yamamoto just over an hour ago awarding temporary custody of Kimberly to this family, who wish to remain anonymous. A gag order has also been issued which prohibits concerned parties from talking about the case before the formal hearing, set for nine days from now."

"The second breaking story related to the Ghost Killer investigation is that this station, along with other radio and television stations around the southbay, and newspaper offices, has been deluged with calls and e-mail messages alleging that the police have had a suspect in this case for some time. Since demonstrators are already appearing in front of the Hall of Justice demanding his arrest, we are going to reveal that name. Let me make it clear, these are completely unconfirmed reports; police have yet to release an official statement. But the person reported to be the suspect is Dr. Harold Wanatabe, one of the most well-respected psychiatrists in in the Southbay and, indeed, in the California mental health community. Dr. Wanatabe has worked with police and the courts on many occasions, often offering expert testimony to the prosecution to refute insanity defenses. Now, there has been absolutely no official word from any police department about this yet, but as you can see here, demonstrators are in front of the Hall of Justice, demanding the arrest of Dr. Wanatabe."

"And here is yet another strange story related to the hunt for this serial killer. Last night police searching for Kimberly Johanson came upon what they thought was a murder scene. But they have since issued a statement that what they found seems to be a bizarre ritual conducted by a woman who has worked with the police in the past. The woman is identified as Dr. Argent Goodman, a paleontologist who also is noted for her reconstructions of faces from the skeletal remains of murder victims. Dr. Goodman had been consulted in this case to re-examine older remains to see if the victims could be connected with the Ghost Killer. However, several Southbay police departments have issued official statements that she is not currently in their employ or being consulted. Dr. Goodman is being held for observation at an undisclosed mental ward somewhere in the Southbay. We also have a confirmed report from the ASPCA that Dr. Goodman is being investigated for possible animal cruelty charges. Apparently some dead dogs were found near the site of whatever it was the police found . . . and I just have here a statement from Stanford University that Dr. Goodman is _not_ a member of the teaching staff there and never has been. She did deliver some guest lectures, but not as part of any accredited course . . ."

* * *

Nancy had expected everything to blow up in the morning, so she hardly slept a wink, but Sarah slept as soundly as Sue once she had put the baby to sleep--she just put it in with Nancy's little half-brother, after changing her and feeding her. In the morning, when Nancy came down, Sarah had fixed pancakes and waffles. Her mother fussed over the new baby as much as she did her own, and it dawned on Nancy about halfway through the leisurely breakfast that her mother thought the baby _was_ hers. Nobody went to school because of all the excitement; her stepfather took the day off from work as well.

She also noticed that Sarah and Sue ate an _enormous_ amount, and she wondered if they had to do that to replenish all the magical energy they had used. She actually asked Sue about that when she thought no one else could hear. Sue shrugged and said, "Maybe. I just like to eat a lot now."

Nancy wished she could talk with Jimmy, but Jimmy wouldn't wake up for more than a minute or two, and he was very grumpy and groggy in those times. He'd been out until five looking for Sue and Sarah, not knowing they had returned. He'd called back several times, but it wasn't until five that Nancy had got to the phone first. Before he'd gone to bed himself, he'd taken a long look at Sue asleep. It wasn't the sort of look Nancy had thought he would give her, and she began to wonder just exactly what was _really_ going on between her brother and this strange girl, with her wierd powers and secrets.

Kimberly remained asleep most of the time, too. Police wanted to talk with her, but every time any came in, Sue and Sarah would get close to them, and they would leave without talking to Kimberly.

Kimberly's creepy foster parents showed up early in the afternoon, shortly after Nancy's stepfather chased away the first reporter. They were loud and indignant, and they intimidated their way past her stepfather and her mother. Linda thought they even scared Sarah, but Sue stood at the foot of the stairs and said, "You are not taking Kimberly-chan. She needs to stay here and rest." She did not speak very loudly, but by the time she finished, the only sound downstairs came from the babies crawling around. Her mother glided past her to scoop up both of the babies, and she carried them upstairs, without explanation.

Then Mrs. Gant broke the silence. "You little--_You _don't tell me what to do. Do you know what trouble--"

"Don't speak so loudly. Don't wake up Kimberly-chan."

The woman remained angry, but when she spoke again, Nancy noticed it was not as loud. "Thanks to _Kimberly-chan," _she said, mocking Sue's Japanese-tinged phrase, "they've pulled our accreditation. They've taken away all the other kids."

"If you had not bullied Kimberly-chan so much, she would not have run away from you."

The foster mother paused for a long time. No one else spoke. Finally she said in a small voice Nancy wouldn't have imagined was hers, "Don't you think I care at all?"

"You care some, but you are a bully. That is why you are so angry now. You know Kimberly-chan run away because you bully her. You always want everything to be other people's fault. But this is your fault. I think it is better you not see Kimberly-chan, ever. You go now. _Go_ now."

The woman and her husband left without saying another word. Nancy trailed along behind Sue and Sarah as they followed behind the foster parents, watching them get into their car, slam the doors, and peel away in a foul-smelling cloud of burnt rubber. Nancy heard them speak in Japanese. Sue then turned around and walked back in, past Nancy. Sarah stood still, looking at Sue walking back inside, and out at the street, and back, and then at Nancy, catching her eyes. She came a little closer and whispered, "_Okasan_ says they are going back to throw all of our things in the garbage."

"How does she know that?"

"She heard what they are thinking."

_More weirdness. _"Can't you stop them?"

"I asked if Jimmy-chan could go get our things, but _okasan_ says we should let him sleep. And your mother and father have to stay here." Then Sarah went back into the house.

Nancy just stood where she was, trying to absorb yet another revelation about the strange girls: They were giving up everything to help Kimberly and the mysterious baby, without being very broken up about it. That seemed to Nancy even stranger than being able to fly or to fool with other people's minds.

"Nancy, come inside!"

It was her stepfather. Nancy now noticed a woman with a microphone and a man with a camera approaching. She ran back inside before they could get any closer to her.

* * *

About an hour after the foster parents left, another policeman came to the house. He was a short man, but he looked very tough to Nancy. He spoke with an accent, maybe Russian, but not very thick. He introduced himself to Nancy's father and stepfather as Sergeant Arteminski. "I remember--" said Nancy's mother. "Sue Kino said you thought that Dr. Watanabe was the killer."

"She told you that?" said the police detective.

"Yes." Her mother shuddered, and held her baby closer. "Why have you let him run around loose?"

The detective got a sour look before he answered. "I'm afraid we can't just arrest a suspect."

"He was _here._ I let him see my Nancy here _alone_ . . . why didn't you let us _know?_"

"People certainly know now . . . Is Sue Kino still here?"

"Yes, upstairs with Kimberly . . . I don't think Kimberly is really ready to talk."

"If I had my wish, I wouldn't talk to her now. But I need to. If she was attacked by our killer, she is the only living witness. She will be able to remember things now she won't tomorrow. I _must_ speak with her."

Nancy spoke up. "This is wrong."

The policeman, who had only glanced at her earlier, now fixed his eyes on Nancy and seemed to look inside her. He repeated, "I must speak with her . . . and with you, but with her first."

Nancy backed up as he came forward toward the stairs, but finally stepped aside. She followed the man up. She heard her mother and her stepfather speaking, probably to her, but did not pay attention. She called out, "Sue, Sarah, Arteminski is here!"

One of the odd things about their house was that the hallway upstairs was narrow. A determined person could block the way. Perhaps not against a tough policeman, but Nancy saw Sue step out into the hall to try.

"You will not talk to her today."

"I will talk to her now, Miss Kino. Please step back," said the policeman patiently. Yet, there was the barest hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"She does not remember," said Sue.

"You can't know that," The detective said. "I _must_ speak with her. She is my best chance to catch the killer."

"She does not remember, and you will do great harm if you talk with her. I will not allow."

"You won't allow? What will you do to stop me, girl? Fight me? Step back, and let me speak with the Johanson girl. Don't make this worse."

"I will protect this girl. I do not want to fight you, but I will fight to protect Kimberly-chan."

"This is--"

"You go ask Wanatabe-sama about how I protect Chibi-Usa! He remembers now! Ask about social worker lady!"

Sarah's head emerged from the doorway to Kimberly's room. She said something in Japanese which included "___okasan__" _twice. Nancy saw the policeman take out something--a phone. By now most of her family was crowded behind her, and her stepfather reached down to put a hand on her shoulder, but she brushed it away. A tussle began behind her, which she barely noticed. What she was watching was the policeman turning aside from Sue and away from Sarah to use his phone. She saw Sarah's forehead flash for an instant, and the phone flew out of his hands to crash against the wall. He bent down to pick it up--and stopped, because it crumbled away into dust before he could reach it.

Hands were pawing at Nancy, but she slapped them away. She kept the others from seeing, without thinking about it, even as she took in what happened next.

The policeman stood up and faced the strange girls, glancing from one to the other, again and again, and finally fixing on Sue, who took a couple of steps forward, allowing Sarah to slip out behind her. Sue spoke very quietly, and yet Nancy heard her through all the noise from behind her. She said to the policeman:

"Your heart is good, Arteminski-sama. But I will protect Kimberly-chan. Go now. _Go_ now." 

The policeman backed away. Then the crowd behind Nancy scattered to let him out.

Watching the police detective leave, Nancy heard her mother ask her, "What got into you, Nancy? You were very _rude_."

"Sorry, Mom, Dad . . . I didn't want any of you to get into trouble."

Jimmy's bleary-eyed form appeared through another door. "Did I miss something?"

Sue kissed him on the cheek and went back into Kimberly's room. More or less everyone followed her. She sat down next to Kimberly, took up the bowl of broth she had put down a few moments before, and gave Kimberly another spoonful. Kimberly swallowed and asked, "What was that?"

Sue said, "Another man who wanted to ask you questions. I sent him away."

"Thank you, Sailor Moon."

Sue gave Kimberly another spoonful of broth. "I am Sue Kino, Kimberly-chan. Sailor Moon is just a pretty cartoon."

"Oh . . . Yeah . . . are the Gants really mad?"

"You don't have to worry about that, dear," said Nancy's mom. "You're staying with us now."

"Yes, Kimberly-chan," said Sue, giving Kimberly another spoonful. "And I will be here for a little while to help."

"And Chibi-Usa?"

"Sarah will be here to help too. Remember, use her American name."

"Oh . . . yeah . . . " She fell asleep again. Sue got up carefully, spilling a lot of the broth but not waking Kimberly. Everyone left the room except for Sarah, who said she'd watch Kimberly for awhile.

Nancy found her mother bent over the pile of dust in the hall. "What's this?"

"Uh, I must have tracked it in, mom. I'll clean it up."

"I will help," said Sue.

* * *

As they were dumping the dust into the garbage, Nancy asked Sue, "What did you mean about the 'social worker lady?' What you said to that Arteminski guy?"

"Social worker lady was selling girls. She sold Chibi-Usa to old man for five thousand dollars."

"_What?_"

"I did not let her take Chibi-Usa away--you know, Chibi-Usa, we call her Sarah?"

"Yes . . . the cop knew about that?"

"He know she sell children, but he could not prove. Then social worker lady disappear. He think Watanabe-sama is lady's partner, kill her to keep her quiet."

"Then the doctor is innocent?"

"I do not know. I only know Arteminski-sama is wrong about social worker lady."

"How do you know--_you _killed her?"

"Yes. Watanabe-sama saw, but Chibi-Usa make him forget. Until yesterday."

"You just told a cop you killed someone?"

"What he do? Even _if_ he believe me, who believe him?"

"Why? All they have to do is find the body. They . . ."

"There is no body. Just dust like phone."

"Why did you tell the cop?"

"I tell him because I _did not_ want to kill him. He is a man with a clear heart. But now he know Watanabe-sama did not kill social-worker-lady. So he will not try to prove it. If Wanatabe-sama kill other girls, Arteminski-sama may have to let him go, if he say he kill social worker lady but cannot prove."

"Do you think the doctor killed the girls? Did Kimberly tell you?"

"Kimberly-chan does not know. And I cannot see all of Watanabe-sama's heart. Jimmy-chan said he might not know what he does."

"That's what you meant yesterday? You would have killed him if you were sure he was the killer?"

"To stop him, yes. If he was going to take you or Chibi-Usa away. But better police catch him, get him to tell him all of what he did. Families should know what he did . . . Oh."

"What's wrong?"

"I think of my family. I have been gone for many months now. They must think I have been killed like these girls."

Nancy didn't really understand much of anything that was going on, but she hugged Sue.

* * *

**Chapter 16: Pariah **

THE DAY AFTER KIMBERLY WAS FOUND, another girl disappeared. This one was really a young woman, with a baby. They were both found, murdered, two days later.

There had been no more than twenty protesters at the medical center the first day. Now, two thousand were in front of the TV cameras.

* * *

"So I'm fired? Just like that, Tom?" said Dr. Watanabe.

"No, not just like that . . . and you're not fired, you're taking a leave of absence. I'ts just that . . . Harry, we can't operate as a hospital like this. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."

"Have your lawyers read my contract? Or your accountants?"

"Don't make this even more difficult, Harry. If I don't let you go, the board will fire me and put in someone who will. You still have your private practice--"

"Tom, my receptionist quit. I don't blame her. They torched her car."

The hospital administrator shook his head. "I'm sorry about that. But I have to do what is best for the hospital. Sorry . . . If you'll wait until after dark, I'll have you taken out in an ambulance."

"No thanks, Tom. I'll take my chances." _Known him since college . . . bastard._

* * *

Harold Watanabe sat in his office and drank. He ignored the knocking at the door; he had disconnected the doorbell. He'd unplugged the phone. He'd sent his daughters off to his sister in Seattle, and he doubted very much he would ever see them return.

He looked idly through the one manga his daughters had left behind. Naturally, it was Sailor Moon. Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. A lovely teenage girl, culturally misplaced but otherwise normal--who had taken an attractive woman and reduced her to a wrinkled crone; then a dry cadaver; and finally a pile of dust. He was sure she hadn't meant to do it, sure that she hadn't meant to destroy his life--that was something out of a Russian novel, not a Japanese cartoon.

_Russian novel._ Arteminski. Not really a Russian-- a Byelorusian Jew who'd left the Soviet Union in the seventies, first for Israel, then here. His Inspector Jabert, come halfway around the planet to hunt him to his doom.

As if to confirm his reverie, he thought he heard Arteminski shouting . . . then he realized he actually did. He took another pull, and then headed for the door.

"Sergeant! Do come in. Sorry, maid's night off. Watch your step; broken glass, you know." There wasn't an intact window left on the street side of the house. "Have a drink?"

"No, I am on duty."

"Well, more for me." He took another pull. "So, what can I do for you? Confess? Sorry, I didn't do it, so I'm afraid I couldn't make up a very good confession. Perhaps you could write one for me?"

"Since you are very drunk, your confession would be worthless, I think. I want to ask you some questions about Ms. Chilicothe."

"That's well-worn ground. I've told you I don't remember many times. I've also told you to speak with my lawyer. I'm not drunk enough to forget how to use the phone."

Arteminski held up his palms. "This is off the record, as you say. Really."

"Really?"

"Really . . . I've spoken with the Kino girl."

"I know that."

"No, you don't know . . . what I mean is, I have seen what the girl can do. And she _said_ that _now,_ you remember what she did."

Watanabe took a moment to take that in. Then he smiled, thinly. "You believe it, then?"

"Yes. What I saw the girl do fits with what the officers on the scene found. And what I was not able to remember myself . . . the girl can do things to your mind, can't she?"

"I'm not sure if it is her or the little one or both . . . but yes. That I'm very sure of . . . well, I guess this doesn't exactly exonerate me. It's not like you can tell anyone else.

"You didn't kill Ms.Chilicothe, but what about the others? All your patients, or with your patients. I'm not sure about the last one, of course, but--"

"She was . . . twelve years ago. One of the first juveniles I saw here. She sent me a Christmas card every year. And she sent me a picture of herself and her baby a few months ago, when it was born." He took a very long pull. "Her name was Louisa. Louisa May Alcott Stern. Her mother hoped she would be a poet. And she named her own baby Molly. She said she liked that name."

The cop waited for him. When the cop was sure he wasn't going to say anything else, the cop said, "Are you _sure_ you couldn't be the killer? No one else really fits."

"You mean, could I have a divided personality? Do things with one personality the other one isn't aware of?"

"Yes."

"If you've read much of the prosecution testimony I've given, you should know that I don't support that theory."

"That is not what I am asking. I am asking if _you_ are sure."

The doctor smiled thinly again, and took a final pull, emptying the bottle. "I am sure as I can be. But then . . . I believe I saw a teenage girl turn a woman into a pile of dust. And now you believe it . . . does that sound crazy to you?"

Arteminski left.

Then the doctor went into his study and unlocked a small drawer in his desk. He pulled out the revolver he had bought eight years ago, when Roberto Iturbe had escaped from prison, and locked away three weeks later, when he was shot to death by police. The doctor had almost forgotten since. There were still bullets in it. He opened his mouth and put the barrel in. Then he picked up the last picture of his wife with the girls--

And saw the note in the corner of the frame.

It read:

DONT KILL YOURSELF DOCTOR OR I KILL YOUR GIRLS NEXT.

* * *

**Chapter 17: Sergeant Arteminski**

Doctor Watanabe showed Arteminski the note he said he'd found in his home. It was out of a computer printer, probably Dr. Watanabe's printer. Dr. Watanabe agreed with him. The last thing he said before he left was, "Remember it."

The Detective Sergeant was unlikely to forget that or any other fact. Semyon Arteminski has something approaching a photographic memory, which is why he had noticed the effects the Kino girls had on him from the first, although he wasn't sure they were the cause until he had seen the girl destroy his cellphone. When he visited her again and was finally allowed to talk to the girl who had been missing, Sue Kino said she would pay for his phone, but it would take a long time. He told her to forget about it, because, of course, it hadn't happened.

The Johanson girl remembered nothing of the attack; in fact, nothing from the time she left her foster home until she woke up in the Leary-Ferrara home. Unsurprising; she might never remember. In fact, she might not have been attacked--the scene where the Goodman woman was taken into custody was completely compromised. The fresh blood samples all matched the Goodman woman, although some dried blood might match the girl--but that meant nothing, because the girl was not wounded, beyond a few scratches. Kimberly Johanson appeared by every standard of investigation to be a false lead.

Except if she knew nothing, why had the Kino girls been prepared to fight him to keep him from talking to her? Willing to reveal that they weren't really human, exposing themselves to what dangers? Willing to _kill_?

He was surprised once again when he was about to leave the Leary-Ferrara home, and not by the Kino girls. The Goodman woman had come by. "Sergeant. We meet again. Informally, of course; I doubt if your department will ask for my services again."

"Officially, we never did," replied the Sergeant. "Are you on a pass?"

"I am released with an official apology. Have you met my sister?"

Arteminski noticed that the short, older-looking woman next to Dr. Goodman _did_ have a certain resemblence. "Leah Goodman-Wang, at your service, Sergeant." She handed him a business card. She was a lawyer--and a successful one, judging from the Gucci ensemble she was wearing. The address on the card was a town in Maryland.

"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Goodman-Wang. May I ask why you and your sister are _here?_"

"Ms. Leary and Mr. Ferrara were kind enough to look after my daughter while I was confined," answered Dr. Goodman. She reached down with the sure touch of a mother to caress the head of a baby in a carrier on the couch beside her, without looking.

He glanced back, and saw that the Kino girls were watching him from the top of the stairs--and saw them exchange knowing glances with Dr. Goodman. _There's a connection I didn't expect . . . but what is it?_

Dr. Goodman drew closer, and held out a card of her own. He took it, saying, "I don't think my department will ever consult you again, Ma'am."

"But you might want to. I still want to help."

"By what I've heard, you weren't very helpful with the Johanson girl."

"You might be surprised, Sergeant."

He pocketed the card, and made his farewells. But outside the door, the Kino girls followed him out to his car. The older one said, "If you want our help, we will give it to you. Anything to stop this man."

"If you believe that, why did you stop me from talking to that girl when it could have done some good?"

"You could have killed her again," said the smaller one.

He looked at the other one, and then past her, at the Goodman women standing in the doorway, and he thought of Baba Yaga, of Lilith, and of all the other legends he had learned as a child, and wondered if they were all just legends . . . But he drove away without saying anything else.

* * *

Every police department in the Southbay cooperated in setting up a 24-hour surveillance of Dr. Watanabe. It was something Sergeant Arteminski had wanted since the disappearance of the of third girl. But he was not satisfied. Weeks passed, expenses mounted, and the Ghost Killer faded from the public eye.

Arteminski had other cases. He wasn't the leader of the task force--he wasn't even on it, though he was consulted fairly often. He was, after all, only a Sergeant, in far from the largest police department involved.

He kept returning to the old evidence in his spare moments, looking for some pattern he hadn't seen before. The killer definitely had a style of murder, but was it a fetish, or a statement? The victims were still too few to confirm a pattern, but there would be others--or had there been others? A killer who had moved here? Or returned here . . . he began to look through old cases.

He found one that resembled the Ghost Killer. The style of the murders was not exactly the same, but it could be a the killer's early experiments--he liked this guy as a suspect. But there was a problem. The guy was dead. He'd died eight years before, a year before Arteminski's divorce and his move to this place and this job.

His name had been Roberto Iturbe. Dr. Watanabe had testified against him.

There were any number of other possibilities, and Semyon Arteminski plodded through them all, but no one looked as good for the killer as Iturbe. Even Dr. Watanabe. Except that Iturbe was dead.

He thought about contacting the Kino girls again, even the Goodman woman, but thought better of it. After a few weeks, his memory of the true nature of the girls was replaced by a conviction that it was all a dream made vivid by his overwork.

And yet . . .

* * *

Christmas approached.

Arteminski followed the case. There were still girls vanishing, about one every week, on the average. But only two bodies turned up, and they didn't fit the signature. Either the killer had changed his style, or there was another one. But, more than half of the missing ones were Dr. Watanabe's old patients. Arteminski found he couldn't get straight answers about the surveillance, and was not surprised to discover an internal investigation--which meant that the surveillance was far from perfect. The F.B.I. was trying to take over, but the local jurisdictions were not willing give up all their own power to the Feds, whatever they said in public about co-operation.

* * *

A few days before Christmas, Arteminski found a message on his voicemail. It was from a Stanford student he'd never heard of. The student would be leaving the next day and wouldn't be returning. Could the detective see her tonight?

The student was named Rebecca Biter (Pronounced "bitter" but with one "t", not two) and she was, well, _bitter._ She had been in a post-graduate program in genetic research, but now she'd been burned by the faculty. "And it all started because I did a fucking favor for Dr. Pei."

"What favor?"

"He came to me at the end of September, and said that he wanted to get a DNA match done on the cheap for a friend. So he asked me to figure a way to work it into my program--I'm--I _was--_in charge of a bunch of fourth-year undergrads. So I do it for him. And I find something really weird. And now, I'm out. And it's all because of Dr. Pei and his _buddy!"_

"Who was his buddy?"

"Dr. Watanabe."

"Harold Watanabe?" said Arteminski.

"None other!" said Ms. Biter.

"Dr. Watanabe wanted a DNA match done? On whom?"

"On a couple of girls in foster care. Dr. Pei said I was supposed to find out if they could be sisters."

"Who were they?"

"Oh, Keane, Kine--_Kino._ Like the game, but with an 'i.'"

"Kino? K-I-N-O?"

"Yeah, that's it . . . you've heard of them, too, haven't you?"

"I've met them, several times, if we are talking about the same people. Let's make sure we are talking about the same people. What were their full names, and where did you find them?"

Ms. Biter gave out the particulars, and then went on to outline how she had done the work--she made allowances for his lack of specialized scientific knowledge, and did amazingly well, considering she was both angry and more than a little drunk. Arteminski was soon sure that she was right about one thing: She was being railroaded out. She was a fine teacher.

She began to wander off the subject he was really interested in, though. "At first I thought Pei was doing the old-boy thing. I mean, do you think I'm the first graduate assistant who stumbled onto something her professor could take credit for? First _female_ assistant? You want to know the truth, there are damn few Nobels that don't go to fucking _thieves!_"

"You think there would be a Nobel Prize in this?"

"Well, I'll never know now, will I? Unless Pei sits on it until the Watanabe thing blows over . . . Maybe you can corroborate my testimony if he does."

"What did you find?"

"Well, at first, I thought I'd blown the sampling somehow, but the results came out the same no matter who did the tests or how many times we ran them. Some divergence, but nothing beyond statistical error."

"Well? Are the girls sisters?"

"Well, probably _not. _Half-sisters, maybe, or the little one _might_ be the big one's daughter. Actually, if the big one is older than she's supposed to be, that's_ statistically_ the most likely relationship."

"That's all?"

"No, that's not. The problem is, when you do these matches, you always match against a control. And _that's_ where the interesting part comes in."

"And that is?"

"The Kino girls don't match more than 80% against anyone else."

"So?"

"I mean, their whole genome. Mr. Arteminski, a _chimpanzee_ would match between 97% and 98% of any human's genes. At least according to the _current_ theory."

"So you think theyre not human?"

"Yeah, I think they're _aliens _living among us and sucking our brains! Geez, _listen. _What this means is that current genetic theory is _wrong._"

"And you have another theory?"

"No. But give me awhile . . . but of course Dr. Pei will also be thinking about it."

"Well, if he comes up with a theory that works, isn't that what counts?"

"Look, I'm not saying because I discovered this, I should get credit for the whole theory. But_ I _should get the credit for overturning the old one. And now I won't."

"Well, if it hadn't been for Dr. Pei, you wouldn't have stumbled onto this."

"You think that gives him a right to just push me out so I won't steal the least bit of his glory?"

"No," said Arteminski. "Have you been expelled, or are you dropping out?"

"I'm dropping out of this program, yes. I'm cutting my losses. I haven't got a chance to fight this, and Dr. Pei and his other buddies in the program have made it clear that they support him. If I go on, they'll approve my formal dismissal from the program for poor performance and disruptive behavior. That would finish me at any university that matters. So, I've made up a cover story to minimize the damage. I'm trying to reconcile with my estranged husband, and I want to spend more time with my kid."

"Your kid?"

"Courtesy of a broken condom and too many romance novels. My parents and his father's parents take care of him."

"Are you actually going to do that?"

"Well, my _kid, _of course. I've got this _huge_ guilt thing over that. But Vernon? We've been friends most of our lives, but we were a disaster as a couple. Man . . . you want to know something funny?"

"Yes."

"I felt _so_ torn up about my marriage going so bad so fast and not being able to handle my kid alone, I went into therapy. And guess who Dr. Pei got for me?"

"Dr. Watanabe."

"Right. Actually I stopped seeing him in therapy before this all started. I didn't know the DNA tests were for him until last night.

"Last night? How?"

"I fucked Dr. Pei. And I got him so drunk he passed out after. It was in his office, so I got into his records. The bastard doesn't know I went through his stuff, but when he woke up, he said 'Thank you' and said I was still out of the program."

Arteminski shook his head. "One more question. How did you come to call _me?_"

"Oh, I found your name in Pei's journal. The idiot used his birthday as a password. Watanabe made a lot of calls to him telling he was worried about you. Pei stopped accepting his calls about a month before the story came out, by the way."

"Did he? I haven't seen anything about him reporting any of this to any police department."

"Duh! Geez, you think it could have anything to do with wanting to keep my little discovery out of the news?"

"Why don't you leak it?"

"No, thanks. I let it out, the _Inquirer_ prints 'space aliens among us' stories, and I lose all credibility."

"Don't you want to help catch the killer?"

"Sure. But what does this have to do with it? It's just a coincidence."

"Why did Watanabe have the tests done?"

"The girls asked him. They didn't tell me about asking him, but they told me they don't want to be separated. They thought if I could prove they were sisters, they might not be broken apart."

"They told you?"

"Who do you think took the tissue samples?

* * *

Arteminski took Ms. Biter's home address and phone. When he called a few days later, more to check up on someone who'd touched his heart than in any hope of getting more useful information, he was told she hadn't arrived. She'd gone to the San Jose International Airport, checked her baggage, but she wasn't seen on the plane.

Christmas afternoon, a father and son flew a gas-powered model airplane in an empty parking lot near the airport for two hours. They were about to leave when the father went to a dumpster to throw out the empty can of model airplane fuel. He found a woman's body in the dumpster. An autopsy found she had been suffocated. There was evidence of sexual assault, but no semen and no other possible DNA evidence. Because she had not been fingerprinted, it would have probably taken many days or even weeks to identify her--except that a Detective Sergeant Arteminski, from another department, told San Jose Police that the woman might be Rebecca Biter, a New Jersey native who had been a graduate student at Stanford University.

The San Jose Police were very curious about why Arteminski had seen Ms. Biter so soon before her murder. He told them that the young woman had been in a dispute with Dr. Pei, and had tried to use his connection with Dr. Watanabe to get Dr. Pei in trouble. Ateminski said he sympathized with the girl, but that the evidence she had obtained was trivial and inadmissable, and that he did not think Dr. Pei knew anything useful about Dr. Watanabe that he had not already revealed to investigators. But Dr. Pei had some difficult weeks following the discovery of Ms. Biter's body. 

The San Jose Police made an arrest in the third week of January, a Nicaraguan illegal immigrant, who was identified by a pawnshop owner as the man who sold her a watch belonging to Ms. Biter. A confession was announced 48 hours later. But the next day, his public defender revealed that the suspect had, in fact, been in jail under another name for sixty days, and had been released the day after the body was found.

Neither Dr. Pei nor Detective Arteminski mentioned anything about Dr. Watanabe's connection with the Kino sisters during this well-covered wild goose chase.

* * *

In the meantime, five more young girls between the ages of ten an fifteen vanished. No bodies turned up. Three of them went missing on the night of the new moon, one of them from her own home. Two of the missing girls were Dr. Watanabe's patients. But the three who disappeared on the new moon were not.

Arteminski went over second-hand reports. None of the missing girls from Christmas to the end of January were from his jurisdiction. But the girl who had vanished from her home had only been one block outside his jurisdiction. Her family could only place the time of the disappearance within five hours. They were, of course, mercilessly questioned because they were the first suspects. Arteminski was asked for his _unofficial_ opinion by the department handling the case after a few days of fruitless questioning and fierce publicity. He looked over the scene, had some quiet words with the family, and gave his opinion. "I think the child was taken."

But a few days later, the father was arrested. The bloody pajamas of the girl had been found in the trunk of his car, under the spare tire.

_Well and good,_ thought Arteminski, _except I looked there and found nothing._

But what to do? Arteminski knew about planted evidence. He'd never done it, but on occasions, he'd seen it done and said nothing. On others, he had reported the infraction immediately. It was a judgement call. They really thought the father was guilty. He didn't. He thought of that Boulder murder case which _never_ went away. And maybe the father had been foolish enough to keep the pajamas, and then put them in his car, for some reason--it didn't have to be a good reason, for this.

_What was really in a man's heart?_

Detective Arteminski thought of at least one person who _might _know.

* * *

**Chapter 18: Weighing Hearts**

USAGI'S CONCERN for Dr. Watanabe did not go away, but she did not think about it much after helping to save Kimberly. She had to deal with settling in with Jimmy and Nancy's family, and with whether it was right to use her powers to help them accept her. The same was true of Chibi-Usa, though she never spent as much time as Usagi did worrying about _anything, _at least while she was sure her mother was close at hand.

Both of them sought out ways to help the family out, and they were soon actually doing a little more work than they had for the Gants. Ms. Leary and Mr. Ferrara responded not by looking for even more for them to do, but told them they were doing too much--and they started being more serious about assigning chores to the other children.

This did not make them very popular with Nancy's and Jimmy's stepbrother Eric and his three stepsisters Felicia, Gina, and Catherine ("Cat"). Baby Ryan had adored Sarah from the first and came to look for Sue when Sarah or his mother wasn't around. Four-year-old Conner (a girl) was indifferent to Sue most of the time but took to Sarah immediately.

In fact, word of Sarah Kino's knack with small children spread through the neighborhood rapidly. In a month, she was pulling in nearly as much money baby-sitting as her "sister" did working twenty hours a week at a fast food restaurant. Sarah Kino wasn't shy about asking for what she thought she was worth, and she had an uncanny ability to guess what her customers were _really_ willing to pay.

She could have earned more, but with the disappearances continuing, fewer and fewer couples were going out and leaving their children with sitters. And Sarah took the lion's share of what sitter jobs were available for about a square mile. Some of the girls at her middle school noticed that she was sitting for families they used to sit for. They started talking about her, and which led to rumors, which led to factions. Only one of the girls was foolish enough to start a fight with Sarah Kino, though, and it did not last very long at all. And, unfortunately for the girl who started the fight, the vice-principal was one of the people who still went out with his wife. He weighed the possibility of losing his sitter against the bloody nose of the other girl. He then pointed out that he was inclined to believe Sarah, especially since the other girl appeared to be larger and stronger. He was prepared to backpedal, of course, if the other girl's parents brought in their lawyer.

When the school day ended, the girl who had fought Sarah and lost began walking away from the school when she saw Sarah, Nancy, and Kimberly come out to wait for their ride home.

Chibi-Usa noticed her walking away, put down her pack, and started running after the girl--who saw her and started running away.

"No, stay with us!" cried Kimberly.

Chibi-Usa called back, "I have to stop her!" She remembered Ashley leaving after she had pushed her into the punchbowl, and the horrible things that had happened to her when she ran away afterward.

Kimberly started running after Chibi-Usa, but Nancy stopped her. "No, no, we've got to wait for Jimmy and _Sue," _she said. She would have run after them herself, if she didn't have Kimberly to watch out for.

* * *

"Bonnie, don't run away!" cried Chibi Usa, but the girl was getting further away. She was not much of a fighter by her standards, but she was a good runner, and had longer legs. In a few moments, Bonnie turned a corner, and Chibi-Usa knew she would lose her.

She stopped, and looked around. It was not a good place--a half-built condo development, where no one had worked for awhile. There wasn't anyone else closer than people in cars on the freeway, quite a distance away.

"BONNIE! PLEASE!"

There was no answer.

She transformed, and flew up high enough to look around.

* * *

"There she is!" shouted Kimberly, pointing out the window at what drivers on the freeway thought was a bird.

Jimmy had come by with Usagi, and they had taken off looking for Chibi-Usa immediately. Usagi was already getting out of her clothes so they wouldn't be ruined by her transformation. She shouted to Jimmy, "Stop, let me out." It was in Japanese, but he either had learned enough words or made a good guess, because he stopped. She still had her jeans on, but she transformed anyway, trailing a cloud of denim confetti as she rose up.

"Well, at least she's still got her undies," mumbled Nancy. Jimmy peeled off to follow Usagi.

* * *

They didn't have to go very far. Nancy wanted to get out, but Kimberly dissolved into fear, and Nancy held her, waiting in the car, while Jimmy ran out to see what he could do. Usagi and Chibi-Usa were bent over a girl, and they were trying to get her to breathe. The girl was naked and there was blood, but not pools or streams of it.

Then they got the girl up and brought her to the car. Jimmy let the passenger seat all the way back and down so the girl could almost lie down. There was just enough room left for Kimberly and Nancy if they squeezed close together, but that was no problem at all.

Jimmy drove to the nearest hospital. Nancy wondered how Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon were going to get back home, but not much--she was busy comforting Kimberly and watching over the girl--she didn't know who it was but Kimberly told her it was Bonnie, and that she had been in a fight with Chibi-Usa. Since Nancy had been with Chibi-Usa for a good bit of the day and hadn't been told, she was a little miffed. But then, some police had "a few questions . . ."

* * *

Bonnie Riordon had been assaulted in Detective Ateminski's jurisdiction, but on his day off. By the time he'd heard of the incident, it was after dark. He had been thinking about looking up the Kino girls, but now _everyone_ was looking for them--Sue Kino's boyfriend said he'd last seen them where they'd found Bonnie Riordon. But there was no sign of them on the scene. The Leary-Ferrarra family were frantic with worry, and they weren't the only ones. Sarah Kino seemed to have become a local celebrity, judging from the number of calls about her from private citizens.

Arteminski had a hunch. Instead of joining the interrogation of the kids who'd brought in the Riordon girl, he decided to head to the Leary-Ferrara home. It was closer to where he happened to be when he got the news, anyway.

It was pitch dark and quite cold when he got to the house. He got out his night scope, a gadget he'd paid over three grand for and had given up any hope of getting the department to buy. He looked around a bit, put it back in its case, and then went in to see the Leary-Ferrara family. He called them all downstairs, spoke for a few minutes, and then told them to stay downstairs while he looked around their rooms for clues--if it was all right. They bought it. Once he was upstairs, he simply opened the biggest window, and let the girls fly in. He'd seen them hiding in a tree with his scope.

"Thank you, Arteminski-sama," whispered the older one, a gorgeous vision in wings, pink panties, and a bra that showed more bosom than he'd expected. The little one was completely naked, and Arteminski turned away from her. 

"What story do you want to tell them?"

He heard drawers open and close, carefully, quietly; then, the rustle of cloth. "Say we came home and were so tired we went right to sleep," the big one said behind him, after a few moments. A little more rustling, and he heard snoring.

He turned around. They'd lost their wings, and had both slipped into flannel nighties. The big one was sound asleep. The little one was in the same bed, snuggling up to the big one, looking at him, but dreamily.

He waited rather longer than he should have before going back downstairs. These girls--or whatever they were--simply trusted him. They had weighed his heart, and found it trustworthy.

He decided he would ask for their help. But not tonight, and not until their latest mess cleared up.

* * *

He talked to them the next day, at their schools. He managed to get his partner for the day to leave each interrogation long enough for the girls to give him the gist of what _really_ happened. It was not terribly helpful, but it was a piece of the puzzle he would never have got from anyone.

The facts they gave him were that the little one had found Bonnie Riordon perhaps two minutes after losing sight of her. Somehow, in that short space of time, the girl had been stripped, sexually assaulted, and suffocated, and the perpetrator had vanished. They couldn't have saved her if they had found her a few minutes later--even now, doctors told him there was probably some brain damage from the loss of circulation to the Riordon girl's brain. They gave varying opinions about whether or not that was responsible for her outlandish story. That is, Bonnie Riordon said that angels had saved her. "Moon Angels."

Other cops came up with the theory that Jimmy Uer was the perpetrator. Arteminski responded to these allegations with laughter. "And he takes her to a hospital? Not to mention the fact that there were never less than two witnesses with him the whole time?"

"So who is the perp?" asked one of them. "Watanabe?"

"Not on this one. In fact, the odds are this wasn't our guy. Or guys. This one _looks_ like a crime of opportunity. Try this: a transient camps out at this place; he finds this kid just dropping in his lap and he starts doing her. Then he panics, smothers her, and runs off when the other kids show up."

"That's your theory?"

"That's _a _theory, but it's pretty good one. I can come up with more. _So should you._ Turn loose of the Uer kid. The girl's family thinks he's some kind of saint now. Not only are you _wrong_ on this one, you could get your testicles and mine smashed if you go any further. _Don't. _That's an order, incidentally."

Arteminski was a Sergeant, but there was no senior Detective sergeant to him in his department.

* * *

The father under arrest for murdering his daughter as being held in a solitary cell. Child-killers are not liked in jails by guards or prisoners. He was not a wealthy man, and no one else came forward to make his bail. So, he stayed in a windowless cell twenty-three hours a day. His wife stopped visiting him, becoming convinced that he must be guilty.

Detective Arteminski brought the Kino girls in, explaining that he wanted them to see the man, to see if they recognized him. It was b.s., of course, but they were allowed in. Once inside the interrogation room, the big one simply looked at the cameras for a moment, and then at the monitoring officer--who slumped down in his chair, asleep.

"I am afraid I have ruined the cameras," she said.

Arteminski shrugged. "I didn't know you could put people to sleep."

"I did not know I could until last week. I wished this policeman who was asking Jimmy all these bad questions would just go to sleep, and he did."

"Maybe that is why _okasan_ sleeps so well," said the little one. Then they stepped out of their overcoats and transformed in front of the man whose life had been destroyed. He spoke very little English, so Sergeant Arteminski asked him questions in Spanish. Not many. The girls told him that his heart was clear.

"He is thinking of his daughter," said the big one to Arteminski, watching the man cry. "He does not want to live without her. He is thinking about how to make a noose from his blanket and hang himself." She turned to Arteminski. "We must tell his wife he did not do it."

Looking at the little one trying to soothe the man, Arteminski replied, "Yes. But I need you to do something else first."

* * *

The man arrested for killing his daughter was let go two days later, and his wife took him home. The police department launched an internal investigation to find out how the evidence disappeared, but no one was punished. Since there were rumors the evidence had been planted, the department said nothing more about the matter than they had to, until the girl's murder was forgotten by most people, as more and more girls vanished . . .

* * *

Detective Arteminski looked in on the Riordon girl at her hospital the day before she was released. He talked to the doctor in charge of her case, and found out that he had kept her so long because he was worried about her "moon angels" story. But the girl finally said that she must have dreamed it. Since she seemed to be lucid again, the doctor kept her another couple of days to see if she would slip back, and also checked for any sign of nerve damage.

"Was there?"

"No, none that I can find. In fact, I doubt if she actually ever stopped breathing. The kids who found her weren't EMT's, after all."

"Yes." He looked at the paper cranes hanging in strings at the foot of the girl's bed. "Did the Kino girls come to visit her?"

"Why, yes, they brought those things you see hanging there."

"When did they come? About two days ago?"

"Why, yes--how did you guess?"

"Just a hunch."

* * *

**Chapter 19: Hunters and Prey **

GIRLS KEPT DISAPPEARING. Five in February, seven in March. No bodies were found. Police made four arrests in four separate jurisdictions, but no indictments emerged. The F.B.I. arrested a man, but was even more embarassed than the San Jose police when it was discovered that the man had been in a _Federal_ prison until two weeks earlier. Rumors had it that the F.B.I. had been misled by a series of anonymous phone calls.

Dr. Watanabe had grown used to surveillance by then. He usually waved to the vehicle he thought the police were watching him from, and he was usually right.

In April, the surveillance was quietly dropped. Nothing happened until the night of the new moon. Then, nine girls vanished. Over the next week, all were found, all dead, all killed the way the first victims had been, and all former patients of Dr. Watanabe. Meanwhile, three more girls went missing.

Dr. Watanabe was questioned again and again over five days. One girl disappeared while he was being questioned. He was released, and put under surveillance. When he returned home, he found that his file folder tabs were grossly mis-aligned. Someone had obviously looked through them--probably photographed each page, judging from the odd pages he found around the house. The police couldn't use any of it in court, of course, but they hadn't cared. The access log of his computer system was unmodified; every file had been accessed while he had been gone.

Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon would have done anything to stop the killer, but how to fight a killer they never saw? Detective Arteminski told them that he would ask for their help again whenever he could use it, but that finding a serial killer was something that took patience and luck. Again he admitted, "We might never catch him--or them. There were even serial killers in the Soviet Union--the KGB could keep them a secret, but it could not catch them any faster than the police here."

Sometimes Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon would fly out at night and look for girls who had just been reported missing, but they didn't find any, not even the nine girls who were found in April. By the time they knew a girl was missing, it would be hours or even days since she had been seen. Sailor Moon went out flying alone more often, on the many nights when Chibi was babysitting--and she ordered Chibi to stay at home when she flew near the nights close to the new moon, because the Grey Lady had said that the killer was strongest then. But even the Grey Lady was not sure if the killer was a man or a monster, though she was sure the killer had some magic.

By the end of April, police received so many reports of angel sightings in the Silicon Valley that they made up a new radio code for them.

Usagi began to fall asleep in class a lot, but she worked hard when she was awake, and her grades actually didn't drop that much. But they would have if Jimmy hadn't tutored her at every opportunity.

Since police found all of the nine girls first, the Grey Lady couldn't try to bring any of them back. No others were found. Usagi kept on flying and searching, with a cellphone to call the Grey Lady if she found a girl. But she didn't, although she did stop some crimes she stumbled on, and reported a lot more--burglaries, mostly. While few people believed the outlandish stories of an angel (or angels when Chibi was with her) stopping armed robbers or scaring off muggers, or carrying people to hospitals, there was a rumor that Southbay police had some sort of stealth helicopter. So many burglars were rounded up that the smartest ones still out of jail moved away, or at least took long vacations.

The police were pretty happy about catching so many burglars, but that joy was short-lived. Why did they never get any good leads on the killer? Two police chiefs were replaced by the end of April.

Detective Sergeant Semyon Arteminski labored on. There hadn't been any missing girls from his department's jurisdiction since the attack on Bonnie Riordon. There were other cases to work on, among them the Barbara Chilicothe case. While he now knew that Dr. Watanabe hadn't killed her, he still didn't know who her partner or partners were. He got a break when one of the girls Chilicothe had arranged an adoption for turned up in Nevada, in a brothel. She'd been forced into prostitution by her new "parents." Arteminski would have bet ten kilos of caviar that she would not be the only one of Chilicothe's "adoptions" to have been peddled.

He decided to talk to Watanabe about it. He brought along Dr. Goodman. He'd seen a lot of her recently. In fact, he'd seen all of her. She said she would be interested in meeting Dr. Watanabe. He didn't know what mumbo-jumbo she had in mind. He wasn't sure whether she had powers like the Kino girls, or was just a wonderful person with some nonsensical beliefs.

"This is it?" asked Dr. Goodman as they drove up. "Grim."

"Oh, it's cleaned up since the last time I saw it. He's stopped painting over the graffiti."

"But he's under surveillance, isn't he? How do any graffiti artists get past the police?"

"Well, I guess they don't want to blow their cover."

"I see . . . Let me get my little bag of tricks."

The doorbell was still dead, so they knocked. Arteminski's hearing had been shot for half his life, but he imagined he heard shutters clicking as they waited. He turned and flashed his badge, in case none of the team watching him knew he was a cop. Could be; there had been a lot of turnover in all Southbay departments . . . Dr. Watanabe opened the door after about two minutes.

"Ah, Arteminski. I was wondering when you would drop in. You didn't ask me many questions when they pulled me in. And . . . Dr. Goodman?"

"You know her?" asked Arteminski.

"I recognize you. Molly has your books," said Dr. Watanabe. "I know you reconstruct murder victims, but I'm not dead yet, and you know there aren't any cadavers lying about.

"Dr. Goodman said, "Yes, I do know that. And you know that I am rumored to conduct strange rituals at night. You are about to discover that the rumors are based on truth."

Dr. Watanabe shook his head. "Well, come in, come in. I appreciate any company I can get."

Dr. Watanabe hadn't really expected Dr. Goodman to perform strange rituals, but that is exactly what she started doing, as soon as they were inside and she got a few things out of the small duffel bag she'd brought inside. Meanwhile, Arteminski began talking, telling Dr. Watanabe about the discovery of an "adopted" girl in a Nevada brothel.

"I don't think she was one of my patients. I'll check--"

"She wasn't. But several patients of yours were 'adopted' through arrangements made by Barbara Chilicothe. What can you tell me about them? Or do you still have memory lapses?"

"Perhaps some, but no more than normal now, I think. The last one was to be Sarah Kino. Do you know about that?"

"Tell me what you know."

"Well, for what it's worth, I had reservations. Her delusion is considerably more intense than the other so-called Kino girl."

Dr. Goodman cut in. "You mean, you still think they are crazy? After what you've seen them do?"

Dr. Watanabe said, "Just because they have special abilities doesn't mean they aren't deluded. After all, they both think they are comic book characters."

Dr. Goodman said, "In this world, Doctor. But there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are--"

Dr. Watanabe finished the quotation: "--dreamt of in your philosophies. I have some Shakespeare too." 

Now Arteminski was knocked off-track. "Jenny, you really believe they are who they say they are?"

Dr. Goodman said, "I don't just believe, I know. I've known since Chibi Moon arrived. But that is a story that can _wait._ Go on, Semyon, I'm not finished."

Arteminski turned back to Watanabe, and turned back to his subject. "Besides that, was there any other reason you had reservations about the adoption?"

"I thought it was a mistake to separate the Kino girls too quickly . . . they actually asked me to get their DNA matched to prove that they were sisters later, and I actually attempted getting it done for them. More of their mental powers, I suppose."

"I know about that. They are related. Most likely, Sue is Sarah's mother."

"She is her mother," remarked Dr. Goodman, interrupting a chant for a moment.

"_Most likely,_" said Arteminsky, "According to Rebecca Biter, who did the research. And who was murdered."

"And who was one of my patients . . . surprise, surprise. Pei never gave me the results. There's another one off my Christmas card list."

Dr. Watanabe said that five other girls who had been patients of his were adopted through arrangements made by Barbara Chilicothe. He did not provide any clinical details, but he did give their names and his impressions about the adoptive parents he had met. "I only met two couples. They were the only two who adopted girls who were still active patients of mine."

"What about Sarah Kino?"

asked Arteminski. 

"I didn't meet the family who were interested--but the adoption wasn't actually going through yet. We were actually there to separate the girls. Ms. Chilicothe felt--that is, she _said _she felt--that it was important to break the connection between the so-called sisters before introducing her to her new family. I should have trusted my own judgment--but do you know how hard it is to get an adoption for an older child?"

Arteminski thought Dr. Watanabe sounded sincere, but he had heard a lot of sincere-sounding statements by now. But the doctor had just told him something he hadn't known._ If it was true. _"That's not what the records say. Where were you going to take Sarah?"

"I wasn't. Ms. Chilichothe--" Suddenly, the doctor understood. "The girl was _supposed_ to be going to a group home in Salinas. But I just took Chilicothe's word."

"Do you remember the address? Or do you have it anywhere in your records?"

"It's in my records. But she was lying, wasn't she?"

"Maybe. But it's worth looking at."

They went from the living room to the doctor's office. Dr. Goodman was inside, holding a picture. Dr. Watanabe immediately took it from her.

Arteminski said, "Jenny, we need to--"

"That's where you found the note, wasn't it?" said Dr. Goodman.

Arteminski was startled. He didn't remember telling her about the note.

Watanabe drew the picture to himself, but did not speak.

Dr. Goodman spoke again. "You put the gun in your mouth, and picked that up, and there was the note." She seemed to be looking far past either of the men.

"Gun?" interjected Arteminski.

"A revolver, from this drawer . . . "

Dr. Goodman continued. 

"Do you have a gun, doctor?"

demanded Arteminski. 

Watanabe finally spoke. "Yes. I did have one."

"You're not supposed to."

"It wasn't registered."

"Why didn't you tell me, doctor?"

"Well, it why should I? To give you something to arrest me for?"

"Where is it? You said you _did_ have it."

"I threw it away. After I gave you the note, I drove to Highway One, and threw it into the sea."

"When did you get the gun?" asked Dr. Goodman.

"Jenny, I'd--"

Dr. Goodman persisted. "You got it years ago; that I saw. But when? Why?"

"Doctor, you don't have to answer that question, you know. And Jenny, I am the policeman here."

"No, I'll answer . . . I got it eight years ago. Someone I testified against escaped from custody. I wanted a gun _now, _not after a waiting period. I won't tell you who sold it to me; I promised not to. The man was killed a few days later. I kept it locked away after that. In that drawer, incidentally . . . you followed my eyes, didn't you? That's how you knew which drawer, if the Sergeant didn't tell you."

"You may believe what you will," said Dr. Goodman. "Go on, Semyon."

Arteminski was amazed at how rapidly the man could rationalize. But he wasn't diverted from his path. "Who was the man you were afraid of?"

"Roberto Iturbe . . . Dr. Goodman, you recognize that name, don't you?"

"I identified him. They gave me a skull and I made a reconstruction from it. There wasn't any other way. The skull was very badly damaged. But there was nothing else left."

"But there's no record--" Arteminski started to say.

"My participation was off the record, Semyon. Hardly unusual for me."

Dr. Watanabe asked the next question first. "You aren't sure he's dead, are you?"

Arteminski answered, "Not any more. But I'm not sure he's not. And I'm not sure you aren't the bad guy, doctor. You still look good . . . Jenny, can we go now?"

"Not yet . . . could you go to the car, Semyon?"

He went to her car. She didn't come out for another hour. By the time she did come out, he had decided he shouldn't see her for awhile. At least, all of her. And as she looked at him, he sensed she saw the change in his heart. But he did not speak of it.

"What took so long?"

"Arguing with him. I told him he should go to Seattle and be with his children. He won't. He thinks whoever is doing this will stay here as long as he does."

"And who does he think that is?"

"Iturbe, maybe. Now. But he believes it."

"I don't doubt that he believes it . . . but I know that man is alive and I don't know that Iturbe is. He shouldn't be."

"No, he shouldn't be . . . I don't know. I know you don't really take my Art seriously, Semyon, but I read a connection to Iturbe. Before he mentioned it."

"Even if I did believe, couldn't that connection just be the gun? He bought the gun because of Iturbe?"

"Yes. That could be it, Semyon."

"What do you think? Do you think he's not our guy?"

"No, I don't. I'm sure of it. The killer wrote that note. I read that."

"He could have written the note. Even he isn't really sure he didn't. Not really. Jenny, he won't go to his kids because he's afraid he's the guy. I don't have to have any powers or arts or whatever to see that. He's afraid he's the guy, at least for some of them. Can you look me in the face and tell me different?"

"He's not sure he isn't the killer. But he did not write that note. I am absolutely certain of that, Semyon . . . " She started the motor. "I put wards on his house. He was amused, but I think he will not efface them. I hope not."

"Wards?"

"Enchantments. Harmless to people, but they will stop most spirit creatures, and some hostile magic."

"You think we're looking for a ghost?"

"I don't know. But whoever or whatever produced that note, has magic. Strong magic."

They didn't say anything else until she dropped him off. He was thinking of what he should say, but she said, "Call when you want my help again." And nothing more, before she drove away.

* * *

**Next: The Ghost Killer**

* * *

**Send comments to: **[**sewell_thomas@hotmail.com**][1]  
Site: [http://www.geocities.com/oldgringo2001/dream/][2]

   [1]: mailto:sewell_thomas@hotmail.com
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	5. Default Chapter Title

**Sailor Moon's American Dream**

A **Sailor Moon** fan fiction by [**Thomas Sewell**][1]. 

_This chapter has some pretty strong stuff in it, strong enough to give at least one of my readers nightmares. There's a _[_synopsis_][2]_ at the end if you'd rather skip over the rough parts._

_...... = thought quotation _  
...... = someone hearing thoughts

**Chapter 20: The Ghost Killer **

DR WATANABE returned to his home, or what was once his home. Now it was a windowless box he spent time in. He put the car in the garage--the last time he had left it out, the tires had been slashed, and he'd had to call many times before he found someone who would come out to replace them. He'd spent the day driving up and down the coast, visiting beaches and picnic areas he'd used to go with Elaine and the kids, when they were tiny and she was alive.

But inside his box, he found his daughters, and his sister Wilma. He couldn't talk for many minutes while he hugged them and kissed them and they all cried together. But then he said, "You shouldn't have come."

Molly, his oldest--_grown so much!--_said, "We had to come, Daddy. We have to show them you're not what they say you are."

"But you don't understand. Reporters--"

"We've got plenty of asshole reporters in Seattle, Harry, and we've seen them all by now," said Wilma quietly. "They need you. And you need them." She got up. "We've been here since a little after noon, Harry, and we just stopped cleaning up a little while ago. You've really let this place go to hell. Not like you, brother. Not like you at _all._"

"Sorry, but I've had a little on my mind. And I didn't make the whole mess myself."

"Yes . . . I got most graffiti of your front door, but you'll have to paint it or replace it when this all blows over."

"The front door? You took all the writing off the front door?"

"Yes. Damn, there was stuff on there at least four languages. Including one I've never seen. It--"

Wilma Watanabe stopped talking. The front door was opening. And she _knew _she had double-locked it, and no one had used it since.

* * *

When that same day was beginning for Detective Sergeant Semyon Arteminski, it began with a problem.

"What's on your mind, Sime?" asked his Lieutenant.

"What isn't?" They laughed, but then Arteminski got serious. "Lieutenant, I've lost my gun."

"Lost it? How?"

"I don't know. I put it away last night, and it was gone this morning."

"Gone? You mean _you_ were burglarized?"

"Apparently. But there is nothing else missing. Nothing! I left my cash in the same place; it was still there. Is still there; I haven't touched it."

"Well . . . file a report and draw another weapon. _Nothing_ else?"

"Nothing else I've noticed, Lieutenant."

"Well . . . you'd better do it right away."

"Yessir." _He's suspicious,_ thought Arteminski, _just as he should be._

* * *

Arteminski thought of making the call from a pay phone so it was unlikely to be traced, but only for a moment. When he was finished reporting the missing gun, he pulled out Dr. Goodman's card, and began calling. He didn't reach her until the third number.

"This is Semyon. What did you do with my gun?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Sorry . . . It's missing."

"And you thought I took it?"

"Not any more . . . I'm sorry, but I'm still a cop. _Really, _I'm sorry. I didn't think it was you but . . . I _hoped_ it wasn't you."

After a long pause she said, "Let it go, then. Can I help?"

"I want you to do . . . whatever it is you can do, with Dr. Watanabe."

"You still think he's the killer? Or one of the killers?"

"No. At least, I'm not sure. But there is a connection. There _has to be_ a connection. If it isn't him, someone is working very hard to make it look like him."

"I'll have to make arrangements for Aura first, but I can be--"

"No, wait until I'm off-shift."

"When will that be?"

"I'm not sure. I'll try to get off by eight or nine."

"Should I wait for you at your apartment?"

"No, I reported the gun missing already. They will at least _pretend_ that it is a burglary; there will be other investigators there . . . and I realize I should have asked you about the gun before I did that. I am _sorry, Goddamnit . . ._ Sorry. Sorry."

"I don't know anything about guns. And if you knew of all my Arts . . . Semyon, don't do anything foolish before you see me. Anything _else._"

"I will do my best."

"I'm going over there anyway. You did tell them I had a key, didn't you?"

"No."

"No? . . . I'll tell them you forgot . . . You'd better tell them, too . . . If I can get there first, maybe I can get a good reading."

* * *

Arteminski actually didn't make it home until after ten. He found Dr. Goodman waiting for him--and the older Kino girl. "Where's the other one?" he asked automatically.

"At her home watching over my daughter and the others," answered Dr. Goodman. "Semyon, I took a reading. It was very poor. But I know you have been visited by something."

"Yeah. A burglar."

"Perhaps, but whatever your _friend_ was, it found its way through my wards."

"You did your magic thing here?"

"Of course. I had _Aura _with me. I never leave her unprotected. But I haven't renewed my wards here since we were last together. They weaken a bit over time. Still, whatever it was, it was hurt. It took terrible damage to visit this place."

"You got all that from a _poor _reading?"

"I did not find out what it was, or even when it was here. Last night, that's all my reading gave me. Except that it has tried to get in before."

"If you say so . . . what do you think, Sue?"

"I do not have the same magic. But I feel something evil here. I felt evil when Dr. Goodman called. That is why I made Jimmy and Nancy and my daughter all stay home."

_Her daughter. _"So Rebecca Biter was right . . ."

"What?" asked the girl. 

"Nothing," said Arteminski.

Dr Goodman said, "I strengthened the wards there before I brought Usagi here. I should do the same for here, Semyon."

The girl said, "Mr. Ferrara thought the Grey Lady was crazy, but Ms. Leary did not--she feels something, too. She does not tell anyone because she does not want us to worry. I had to use my power on her a little--" 

Dr. Goodman cut off Usagi. "We need to get to Dr. Wanatabe."

"Yes."

As they left his apartment, Dr. Goodman took some powder from her bag, smeared it on the door in a peculiar pattern, and chanted. Then she said, "If our friend checks in again, it won't check out."

They reached Dr. Watanabe's home about twenty minutes later.

"Isn't he still under surveillance?" asked Dr. Goodman, genuinely puzzled.

Arteminski, who had been rubbing his eyes to try to lose his headache, put on his glasses again and looked at the house. The front door was open--the knob was hanging off, clearly broken.

"Stop! There!" He said, pointing to the van he knew had to hold the surveillance team. He banged on the back, got no response, and tried the door. It was unlocked. He looked in--

He ran to the front of the van. He picked up the radio mike--and saw the cord was cut.

He heard a scream, and ran for the open door. He saw that Dr. Goodman and Sue Kino were just getting out of Dr. Goodman's Hummer.

There were four bodies inside: a woman just behind the front door, and two young girls on the couch. Between them, was the body of Dr. Watanabe. They had all been shot through the head.

And there, in front of him, was his gun. He picked it up, ignoring a career of procedure, overwhelmed by the sheer diabolical evil of it.

"Oh, I'm disappointed. The Russky-Kike cop picked up his own gun. And after _all_ the trouble I went to to leave your fingerprints on it."

Arteminsky turned around. Standing in the doorway behind him was a man he'd only known from records, old photos, a little faded videotape from old news shows: Roberto Iturbe.

"You survived that fire, didn't you?"

"Obviously . . . Well, sorry to rush, but I have to be going now. You've got a daughter. Older than I like, but she's going to have a _baby_. I'll wait until she has it, and then I'll kill it in front of her. Of course, I'll get her to suck me off first. Then I'll do it. I might let her live after I do the baby. Of course, I might be merciful. I was almost going to let that Louisa live, but she begged me to kill her, and I just didn't have the heart to let her go begging."

"You won't survive this!" Arteminski shot him through the head.

Iturbe just smiled. "That stings a little. You can't kill me, Kike cop. But you can kill her, if you like."

Iturbe's body swelled, and opened up. Inside was a dark mass of twisting forms--and a girl, terrified, screaming.

The thing still had Iturbe's head, and the head spoke again. "I'm so glad you dropped by. I don't get to work in front of an audience very much. Now, you can kill her, quick, or you can just let me have all of my fun."

Claws, blades, jaws formed and began tearing away at the child. But her face was free and she cried out, "Help me! God, help me!"

Arteminski aimed at her forehead and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. 

"Now that's odd . . . I only used one bullet on each of them. Well, I'd let you get more ammo, but since--"

Ateminski's gun had begun to crumble away. Then the thing's head flew off as a white-hot disk cut through it. The mass of obscenity convulsed, and the girl fell forward onto the floor. Arteminsky grabbed her and pulled her away with all his strength.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Arteminski rolled with the girl. He saw the thing shimmer and begin to melt. The house began to collapse. Arteminsky picked up the girl and crashed through the plywood covering what had been windows. He rolled with the girl again as he landed on the lawn, just as it lit up with an orange glow. He heard a great, low _whoomp _and saw the roof lift up a few feet, and then settle down. In another moment, it crumbled inward, and flames shot up.

He saw Dr. Goodman bending over him, holding someting long in her hands. "How many inside?"

"Four. All dead."

"Too late, again . . ."

Someone else was bending down over him, taking the girl out of his arms. It was the Kino girl--no, not quite. And not the angel he had seen her turn into before, though she had wings--two pairs of them. She had jewels in her hair now, which floated out in two ponytails about two meters long. _Floated_.

The little girl was dripping blood all over him. And then she seemed to glow, in the arms and wings of the Kino girl. The ponytails enwined the the dying child as well, and he saw them soaking up the blood.

He saw the little girl open her eyes again, and heard her say, "Sailor Moon. You're real. You really came."

Artiminsky saw tears fall from the Kino girl's eyes--which glowed. Where they splashed down on the girls ruined skin, it became whole again. When the tears finally stopped, the girl was still badly injured, but--

"I must get you to hospital. Doctors will help you," Arteminski heard the Kino girl say.

And then she flew off with the little girl in her arms.

Watching them vanish into the night above him, he felt tears of his own, and said a prayer he hadn't said for most of his life.

"Awww, how touching. The kike cop is crying."

Arteminski turned around. Roberto Iturbe's head was floating a few paces away.

"That moon slut didn't get _all_ of me. I've still got a date with your daughter. And I'll make one with your featherbrained friend and her kid. _Buenos Noches._" The head vanished, leaving a sickly green after-image for a moment. Areteminski saw that Dr. Goodman was pointing something at him--a long rod with a silver skull at the tip.

"I couldn't throw my spell without hitting you," she said.

"You should have."

"We'd better leave. We're beginning to draw a crowd."

It had not occured to him that there were other people around--and there were, spilling out of the surrounding houses.

"You can go. No point if I do. My fingerprints are all over that van. And the bullets--"

"Your gun is gone. And I doubt if the bullets will be recovered in any usable condition . . .What will you tell them?"

"I'll tell them the fucking truth. Then they'll put me in the mental ward."

"Want some company? I can show you the ropes."

"Shouldn't you stay out to fight him . . . it . . . whatever?"

"It won't be dangerous again for awhile. Not until the next new moon, if my divinations are correct. If it had enough energy to attack us, it would have." She shook her head. "Why did he do that to the door? He broke my wards. They would have been safe."

She began to weep. He took her into his arms.

He could hear sirens.

"Can you do anything to protect my daughter?"

"Yes, if she'll believe me."

"Then get out of here and find her. Make her believe! Do whatever need to do."

"How do I find her? You never told me, Semyon."

"Her name is . . ."

* * *

Hiram Khan spent every moment he could beside Stephanie's bed. He had to go to court, and of course arrange and attend the funerals, but he had resigned all his positions to take care of the last survivor of his wife's family full-time. She was all he had left of his wife; they hadn't been able to have children of their own.

He spent thousands getting shoppers to buy up all the _Sailor Moon_ books, so he could read her favorite stories whenever she was awake. The lady who had created Sailor Moon came to see her, and left her a big Sailor Moon doll (though unfortunately Stephanie had a bad turn that day, and wasn't conscious).

They let him stay past visiting hours. He would have paid any bribe for that, but the staff didn't ask. But he was very surprised one evening long after visiting hours when two girls came in wearing Sailor Moon costumes. It wasn't the first time he'd seen something like that, but it was so late. Their costumes were very well done, especially the very realistic-looking wings.

The taller girl said, "Sorry. You are Uncle?"

"I'm Stephanie's uncle."

"We saw you on television," said the smaller one. "May I wake her up? I made this for her." She held up a lei--no, looking closer, it was made up of tiny, colored paper cranes.

"You came so late--" But the little one melted his heart with her gaze. "I'll see if she'll wake up." He went over to her, and said gently, close to her ear, "Stephie, there's someone to see you." He knew better than to touch her--that woke her up screaming.

She opened her eyes. In a tiny voice, she said, "Sailor Moon. You came back."

"And Sailor Chibi Moon," said the little one. "I made this for you. A thousand cranes. Wear it and it will protect you." She saw that the girl could not lift her head, and said, "You can wear it when you get better. Or you can hang it over your bed now. I will do it for you."

"Thank you . . . Thank you, Sailor Moon, for saving me."

Mr. Khan watched the taller girl bend down over the bed and kiss Stephie on her head. She folded her great wings over the girl . . .

_Folded her wings?_

Shocked, Mr. Khan stepped back. And he saw that the little one was hanging her paper cranes over the bed. She was floating just below the ceiling as she stapled her cranes into place. Then she floated down. "_Okasan_, is she all right?" She was speaking Japanese, which Mr. Khan understood. _Perfect_ Japanese.

"Yes. But she is asleep again. We shouldn't wake her."

The door began to rattle. A voice said, "Open up. Are you all right in there?"

The big one stood up and put her finger to her lips. Then she went to the window and opened it. She flew out, but hovered, waiting for the little one. Before she left, the little one kissed Stephie. Then she flew out the window, and both of them vanished into the night.

In maybe another minute, the door opened. By now, there was a security guard as well as the night nurse.

"What's going on?"

"Going on? I was asleep."

"Why did you lock the door?"

"Lock the door? I didn't. How could I? I don't have a key."

The night nurse came in, and closed the window. "Fresh air is good, but it's getting chilly."

"Yes . . . I just woke up."

The guard and the nurse stared at him. Then the nurse checked over Stephie. Then she returned to the door and looked at Mr. Khan for another long moment. Then she said to the guard, "Let him stay. She get's scared when she wakes up and he isn't here." But she said to Mr. Khan. "But don't lock the door again. And leave the windows alone."

Hiram Khan almost said that he didn't have a key again, but didn't. But he did wonder about how the door got locked.

Then he shrugged. He had just seen something he could never explain. Had it _really_ happened?

He looked up. A thousand cranes guarded Stephie in her bed. 

* * *

**Chapter 21: Bullies **

SARAH KINO was now the most liked and most hated girl at her middle school. More people liked her than people who did not. Unfortunately, one of the people who did not like her was the man in charge of security for the school--actually, he worked for a firm the school district had contracted.

When Sarah Kino and her sister had rescued Bonnie Riordon, this man--John Jarves--was investigated by his firm. They wanted to know why he had let Bonnie Riordon and Sarah Kino walk off the grounds, especially since they had given him two more people to work with that very week. Students were only supposed to be allowed to leave in cars or buses.

Jarves called in a few favors and shifted the blame to a subordinate who was fired. But he remembered that Sarah Kino had got him into trouble. What he remembered was a lie, but, like a lot of people who tell many lies, he soon believed it was the truth.

Another person who came to hate Sarah Kino was a boy named Laurence Gigerman, or "Larry." Larry had always been bigger than most others his age. He enjoyed bullying other kids. He was good at it because he was big, and always liked to pick on the smallest or weakest or most timid. Very few of them ever fought him, and he had usually been able to handle the few that did fight. It wasn't beating up other kids he enjoyed; it was _bullying, _intimidating them, showing how small they were, and how he could do whatever he wanted with them and their stuff.

This was good for Larry in several ways. First, he didn't get into much trouble for fighting, since he didn't fight much. When he did, his mother, a lawyer, would raise hell, and the black mark would be quietly erased from his record.

Second, he wasn't a very good fighter. In fact, he wasn't an athlete at all. When anyone asked why he wasn't on the basketball team, or the football team, or whatever, he just said that sports were for jerks and that he had better things to do.

Actually, bullying was the only thing he was good at. He was good enough to teach, though, and by his third year of middle school, he always had about a half dozen apprentice bullies hanging around him, learning from the master--and getting some protection through his mother, and sponging off him, because his mother gave him lots and lots of pocket money.

By then, he had found there was more to life than bullying: there was _sex._ He started concentrating on boys for the most part for his bullying, though there were some girls he just couldn't help bullying. He developed a different style for them, with more emphasis on teasing them about what they felt most uncomfortable about; less on physical presence. He would try to find girls to join him in tormenting others--not a bad strategy for romance, considering his limited repertoire.

He also developed a crush on Bonnie Riordon when he saw how she was going after Sarah Kino. He didn't really know who Sarah Kino was--he hadn't gone to that "stupid" Halloween party. But he looked at Bonnie, and he thought he saw a kindred heart.

And then Sarah Kino saved her life, and Bonnie never seemed to be more than a few feet away from her when she returned to school.

Larry considered his problem for quite some time, and decided that Sarah Kino was responsible for it. He also developed a considerable hatred for Bonnie for jilting him (in his mind), but was smart enough to realize that Bonnie was a dangerous target--her family had retained his mother in a suit a few years earlier.

First, he tried the direct approach. After stalking for several days, he came up on Sarah Kino from behind and tried to push her into an empty classroom, where he could put a good scare on her for a few minutes.

Sarah twisted away from him. He lunged after her, and she flipped him into a bank of lockers. He wasn't really hurt, but the humiliation was so great, he lost his temper. He got up, and actually tried to strike Sarah. He didn't notice that others had started coming into the hallway. And he certainly didn't consider that it was a very _stupid_ idea to come straight at someone who had just beaten him cold twice when he'd had the element of surprise. Bullying was his specialty, not tactics.

So, in front of an audience of two dozen, including a teacher, he made a roundhouse swing on a girl half his size. She ducked under it, and punched him in the groin. _Hard. _She hit him a half-dozen more times before he fell to the floor, but he didn't feel any of those blows until later.

One of the people in the audience was Bonnie Riordon. She told her parents. They told his mother. For the first time in his life, his mother struck him. She was filled with remorse a little later, but she decided he had a "problem" and made him start going to a therapist. Since this implied there was something wrong with him, he hated Sarah Kino even more.

His next approach was more successful. He gathered his apprentices, and began to seek out Sarah's friends. His luck had not left him entirely, because, thanks to investigation by a concerned member of their security staff, the school discovered that Sarah Kino and her older sister had a history of fights ever since they came into the foster care system. They followed Jarves' recommendations: they couseled her, counseled the family she was staying with, and had the teachers and guards pay special attention to her, to stop any new fights and to report them.

Thanks to Larry and his secret ally, Jarves, there were three fights to report within two weeks, all with his "friends." By now Larry had had time to work on his mother, and she had decided that Sarah Kino was a menace who should be expelled. The vice principal warned her and her prospective adoptive family that she would be expelled if she got into any more fights.

This was actually the apex of Larry Gigerman's campaign against Sarah Kino. Sarah Kino was still _the_ babysitter; she was getting requests from beyond the school district by now. The people who still felt secure going out were the people who could afford security systems and/or private patrols. In other words, movers and shakers. The vice-principal was well on his way to waffling in three days, and he was smart enough to see that Jarves was a lazy man whose reports seemed to have very little relation to realities the Vice Principal remembered. In fact, he got so curious about Jarves, he got sidetracked from the Sarah Kino issue for a few days. He noticed Jarves claimed to have been employed by a firm that he knew of: he had a college friend in that firm. A couple of calls, and it turned out Jarves had been fired for being absent from his post and falsifying reports. Another couple of calls, and Jarves' current employer re-opened their investigation of Jarves. Smelling trouble, the people who had helped him escape before began to discover new evidence. Jarves was on his way out before another two weeks had passed. But he didn't know it. His company wanted to remove him quietly, so they waited for the end of another week.

By happenstance, the Friday of that week was another new moon.

* * *

Johnny Jarves watched Larry Gigerman and his lackies approach Sarah Kino and her friends. He had watched them enough to know that Nancy Uer would join them in about fifteen minutes (she had a class that ran later than most) and that Sarah, Nancy, and another girl would be picked up about fifteen minutes after that by Nancy's brother and Sarah's sister. Bonnie Riordon was also in that late class, and if she saw something, her word would negate his report. So, he had to let something develop before she came out.

Jarves eased away and went over to the other guard posted to watch the children, and started chewing him out for having dirty shoes. They had, of course, gotten dirty by walking around keeping an eye on things, instead of locking himself in his office and watching soap operas most of the day. But they were dirty, and it was in the handbook, and, by God, _Jarves_ was the one in charge here. He took the other guard away to his office to write up a special report.

Larry and three of his apprentice bullies were trying to come up behind Sarah Kino, but she was wary these days and spotted them. So they spread out and approached her and her friends from several directions. They circled for several minutes. Two more of the apprentices started intimidating other kids nearby, distracting them from the main action. Finally, Larry saw an opening. While Sarah ran after the boy who had taken Gunderpal's satchel, Larry ran up and grabbed Kimberly Johanson. He backed away from Sarah, shouting, "I've got her now, you crazy Jap!"

"Put her down!"

"What are you going to do, beat me up? Throw one punch and you're out of here!"

"I will go to principal! Now!"

That wasn't something Larry hadn't expected. After all, he was used to bullying Americans, who settled their own fights. Watching Sarah march off, he realized she was _serious. _So he did something to stop her. "Hey, what you got, little girl." He felt a cord around her neck, and pulled it up. "What the fuck? She's wearing a fucking _skull!" _He pulled it up, and the girl grabbed for his hands, screaming.

Sarah Kino stopped, turned back toward him, and looked at him. She shouted, "No, don't take that off! If you take that off, I will punish you!"

He jerked the cord hard, breaking it, and hurting the girl. He didn't know her name, so he just said, "You don't wear shit like this around me!" 

Then he hurled it away.

Then something black fell down in front of him--and grabbed at him. Ropy things wrapped around the girl he was holding.

Something else had also been stalking Kimberly Johanson, for a long, long time, and Larry had helpfully removed the fetish that was protecting her. It was not a team player, and Larry was in the way now.

More ropy things came down, sliced his arms off, and casually cut open his throat.

* * *

Later, Larry would have a hero's funeral for dying to defend Kimberly Johanson and Sarah Kino. It was a lie, but a comfort to his mother, who was not really a bad person.

John Jarves was transferred to night watchman duty in a warehouse district of San Diego. His firm hoped he would quit, but he hung on for five years longer, when he was killed in Tijuana by a robber who was after his splendid shoes.

* * *

**Chapter 22: Chibi Moon's Battle **

"Kimberly-chan!" screamed Chibi-Usa.

"Help me! Help me, Chibi Moon!" cried the girl, rising into the air.

_Yes, HELP her, Chibi Moon . . . stop me, if you can!_ The horrible voice sounded in Chibi-Usa's head--and the other kids around her, while Larry Gigerman's soulless body hopped around like a freshly-killed chicken, spraying blood over his "friends" and Chibi-Usa's friends, and Chibi-Usa.

Chibi-Usa didn't think about the other kids watching her. She transformed without a gesture, without a word. And without another, she shot an actinic blast toward the thing, snaking just above Kimberly-chan's head. But it went right through the thing.

_Impressive . . . Most Impressive! But you are not your mother yet! Find me and stop me, if you can. I won't kill her, for a little while . . ._ The thing vanished, with Kimberly-chan, before the next blast reached it.

Chibi Moon flew up, not knowing anything more than that she had to find the thing again before it was too late . . .

* * *

There was a buzz of talk in the hall--among the staff. Jimmy couldn't make it out, but after he found Usagi and they started for the parking lot together, they passed a clot of staff who hushed up when they got close. But they weren't quiet enough with their thoughts. Usagi dropped her bookbag and sprinted for the exit. When the security guard put out an arm, she flipped him around herself into the wall, hardly breaking stride.

* * *

Dr Goodman had a scanner in her Hummer. She charted the course of the angel girl by listening to the police calls--mostly through the startled breaks from monotone code numbers. She also heard more and more bursts of static, and then she saw the violet-white streaks. She couldn't see the girl yet. But she could feel the thing--it was in pain. Not really in danger yet, but not as impervious as it was pretending to be . . . _If only she'd had another year,_ thought Dr. Goodman. _Those blasts could sink a battleship! But she can't control them enough to lock it in, and it won't give her time to learn . . . _

Dr. Goodman realized she wasn't going to catch up with them--the girl was moving away, much faster than she could make it through traffic. But . . .

Dr. Goodman saw dust ahead. _Accident. Immobilized in a minute, take an hour to get out . . ._

She swerved off the freeway, and crashed through the chain-link fence. _Good thing they ran out of money for those useless sound-walls . . . _

* * *

Jimmy drove straight to the middle school. There were police and reporters all around, and a big bloody patch of grass by an ambulance. "Hysteria" and "Shock" were the words he heard from many official mouths. Then he found Nancy. She was sitting in on the floor a hallway, curled up against the wall, crying, and no one at all was paying any attention to her. He picked her up and carried her out of the school. He would have punched out several people, but he had his hands full.

He was going to take her home, but then he saw the streaks in the sky. And so did she. And she said, "Find her! Find them! Before it kills her!"

He cut across the lawn, and peeled off down the street, in front of a dozen cops. None of them paid any attention, because they were all looking open-mouthed into the sky, listening to the banshee shrieks that followed every violet blast.

* * *

If the incident had happened twenty years before, or even ten, there would have been a military response within thirty minutes, perhaps less. But on the day of the biggest UFO event in history, and possible hostile action in the Silicon Valley, there weren't any fighting aircraft in the State of California which could be scrambled.

But there was an aircraft carrier about 200 miles south. Six hours after the incident began, they got orders to launch a mission. 

* * *

Sailor Moon was in her angel form, the one which could fly the fastest. But she couldn't keep up with Chibi-Moon, try as she could. She couldn't even get close enough to see if Chibi Moon had a new form to go with her new attack. Hours had passed. They could have flown far from the Southbay in that time, but the thing--which she only glimpsed for a second or two, mostly by following the blasts--the killer thing was circling, leading Chibi-moon around and around, phasing in and out. It _did_ speak to her mind, taunting her. _Your girl is providing great sport . . . I could go on for days, but your Kimberly-chan won't keep . . . she'll lose the rest of her wits soon, and then she won't be fun any more. Thank Dr. Goodman so much . . . it will be _so_ special to do it to her again. But I'll be fair . . . I'll let you catch up with me, after I kill them. Unless you can do it before, Moon-slut. _ And so on, endlessly. But she could not read its true thoughts.

Sailor Moon could see that Chibi was being careful not to fire when she might hurt someone, but she had started some brush fires. The thing shot its green bolts occasionally, sometimes at Chibi Moon, but more often at something on the ground--always near Sailor Moon, so she would have to see if she could help anyone. Once it blew up a big airplane; twice it shot down helicopters. There wasn't anything Sailor Moon could do to help, except carry one person on the ground away from the burning fuel.

It was keeping her away from itself and Chibi Moon. But was she supposed to leave people to burn in the fires the thing started?

* * *

Dr Goodman saw them beside the steaming hatchback, and she stopped. "If you want to come with me, come now!" she shouted. Not knowing why, Jimmy picked up his sister, again reduced to curled-up-senseless-weeping, and ran to the Hummer. He could actually hear sirens over the blasts. There were no streetlights--or any lights--because by that time Chibi-moon's ionized blasts had disrupted the power grid of three-quarters of the Southbay.

"What is that thing?" he asked Dr. Goodman.

"A spirit-creature. But it was once a man."

"You mean, a ghost."

"More than a ghost--and less. A _voudonista_ would call it an "in-betweener." It is neither wholly in the material or the spirit world. That is why it is so difficult to fight. If it was just one or the other, one of those blasts would destroy it."

"That is Sarah?"

"Yes."

"My God, the _power! _She's only _thirteen!_

"She's actually over nine hundred years old, kids. She was a small child for all that time, until she was forced to use her powers."

"She's stronger than Sailor Moon, isn't she?" asserted Nancy.

"In many ways, yes . . . if she matures, she will be stronger."

"Why can't she beat this thing, then?" asked Nancy.

"She's still too much of a child . . . this thing likes to prey on girls exactly her _apparent_ age. If she had time to think, she could destroy it. But it's not giving her time."

"Is there any hope?" asked Jimmy.

"There is always hope . . . Whatever happens, remember, don't give up hope. If you give up, this thing will win. It doesn't just feed off of rape or murder or even fear. It feeds on the corruption of life. If you let it lock you behind your doors, if you let it wither friendship and joy and trust, it will only grow stronger. It cannot live on murder alone. And it can't even feed on that if its victims fight to the end."

Now Nancy began to cry. "We'll never catch up. It will kill them all. Kimberly, and Sarah, and Sue."

"No. It won't. And I'm not chasing it. I know where it is really going."

"Where?" asked Jimmy.

"The Victorian Hills Mall."

"Why," asked Nancy bitterly, "So it can do some shopping after it kills them?"

"No. Thirteen years ago, that mall was a fruit orchard. And that is where Roberto Iturbe raped and killed Kathleen Tilden. It was his first murder."

"Then it is a man after all?" said Nancy with uncertain hope.

"Not any more," said Jimmy. "I remember him. The cops shot him eight years ago."

"Actually, they wounded him. Paralyzed him. He burned to death; the tear gas cannisters set the house on fire," said Dr Goodman. "He'd already killed all his hostages."

"How did you know that?" asked Jimmy.

"They had me reconstruct his face from the skull. They wanted to be absolutely sure he was dead."

"They were wrong," said Nancy.

"Yes. And so was I. A shameful lapse, given my Art."

* * *

It was pitch dark. There was no moon up; it was just past the New Moon, so it wouldn't have done much good anyway. But in angel form, Sailor Moon could see what was below her well enough. She could also see that at last, she was getting closer to Chibi Moon. Not because she was flying faster. Sailor moon had noticed that Chibi Moon slowed down whenever she fired a blast. She was firing a lot of blasts now.

But just when she thought she would get in range of the thing at last, something roared past her. Two jet airplanes--and they were launching their missiles. Sailor Moon saw that the missiles were heading straight for Chibi Moon.

* * *

Lt. Louise Martini felt the AMRAAM slip away by the change in trim before she saw it. "Missile One Away. Tracking. Lock. Victor-Two has also launched . . . I have lock--what th--Malfunction! Portside missiles are all offline--Flight emergency! Hydraulic systems have failed--JESUS!"

Louise Martini had only a split second to act. She'd just seen her wingman fly past her rapidly failing aircraft--and a green fireball streak into her wingman's aircraft, which exploded instantly. She pulled down the curtain and hit the eject button. _That_ system worked. After being shot up at several gravities and falling free until her canopy opened, her wits gradually returned. She saw an orange fireball miles away, probably her ship. She didn't catch the sound of the explosion. Whatever it was she had been shooting at was filling the air with banshee shrieks. It was firing violet streaks now, lots of them, not at her.

Other than that, it was pleasant enough, floating a mile or so up on a warm night. Her career was over the fantail, of course, but . . .

She realized she'd thought too soon. A green fireball came toward her, lazily, and then very fast. It missed her, passing over her head.

But her canopy was gone. She was falling free, about a mile up.

She was trying to remember how to say an act of contrition when the angel caught her. She passed out in a second, but she remembered the glowing moon on the angel's forehead, and the fury in her eyes.

* * *

Chibi-Moon screamed, and fell. One of the missiles had exploded, and fragments of the continuous-rod warhead cut into her legs and body. If she had been mere flesh, she would have been cut apart, but transformed, she was tougher. But not invulnerable.

The thing approached, seeing a chance. But Chibi Moon saw a chance, too. She let herself fall almost to the ground, and then pulled up and fired. The thing screamed in her mind for a moment before phasing out. But it rematerialized not too far away. Chibi knew it was hurt badly. She flew as fast as she could toward it, preparing to hit it at close range, where it could not use Kimberly to shield itself.

* * *

Dr. Goodman shouted, "The glovebox, there! There are some charms. Each of you, put one on. They may help."

They were necklaces made out of small bones, each with a small animal skull.

Almost as soon as Jimmy and Nancy had put on the gruesome neckwear, they saw Chibi Moon fly by no more than forty feet up. She then started climbing. Something dark was before her, silhouetted by the blasts she kept firing. And amid that dark something, glimpses of a screaming girl.

* * *

_Ooooh, you got me . . . that really hurt, little moon girl. I'm afraid I just can't hold on any more . . . Catch!_

Chibi Moon caught Kimberly as she tumbled through the air. The terrified girl grabbed at her, pulling Chibi Moon's face into her bosom. It blinded her. She couldn't see to fire her blasts.

That was what the Iturbe-thing was waiting for. It shot out impossibly long, slender tentacles, forming sharp blades at the tips. They sliced into Chibi Moon in a dozen places, with unholy precision, causing the maximum amount of pain.

_Oh, it hurts, poor little moon girl! But don't drop your friend! It is still a long way to the ground._

Chibi Moon screamed in pain, a sound that was heard for miles by ears and minds. Almost everyone passed out, because they felt a _small_ part of her pain for an instant. Jimmy and Nancy did not pass out, though they felt pain as never before--the charms directed away most of it, before crumbling into dust.

But Chibi Moon did not drop her friend, whom she had fought so long and desperately for. She flew on, though her wings were shredded, feathers falling everywhere. She glowed, and all the tentacles touching her vaporized. But she could not see her enemy. Her eyes were gone. Yet she set down on the ground gently, with Kimberly still physically unharmed in her arms.

_Pity. I really really wish I didn't have to blind you. So I'll just tell you what I'm doing. You hurt me, little moon. I salute you; you were a worthy challenge. So I will forgo the pleasure of raping your Kimberly-chan again. I'm just disemboweling her, and taking her head. Time to go . . . Your mother is coming, and I owe her a death as splendid as yours._

* * *

Sailor Moon tried to hit the thing, but she couldn't see it without Chibi's blasts. It was many times farther than she had ever tried to fight from before--and she heard the thing scream it its mind again, for a moment. But only a moment. Then she heard it speak in her mind as it butchered Kimberly. Then it vanished. It was just not there any more, on any plane of existence she could perceive.

She flew to Chibi Moon, dropping the pilot lady who had hurt Chibi with her missile as soon as she set down on the ground.

* * *

Incredibly, Chibi Moon could still speak when they moved her onto the silken tarp. "Kimberly-chan . . ."

Dr. Goodman said, "I can't save two, and you have a chance."

The Grey Lady worked her spell. Sailor Moon cried glowing tears. Chibi Moon began to become whole again--but then, the glow went out of her. It rose from her in a silvery mist, and then formed a transluscent figure. The spirit-form of Chibi-Moon reached out with its half-formed arms for Sailor Moon. It embraced her, and then melted into her.

And was gone.

_Touching,_ a horrid voice sounded in the minds of the four grieving souls.

The _ginzuishou_ materialized at the base of Sailor Moon's throat. She fired a halation attack at the laughing form that had materialized--Jimmy recognized it as Iturbe. The figure shimmered for a moment, but re-formed. The half-built parking garage behind it collapsed.

_So, you want to turn me to dust? Let me return the favor._

A sickly green bolt shot out from the figure. It consumed Dr Goodman.

_I don't wanna play any more tonight. But don't forget me. I won't forget you, moon slut. Or your friends . . . Especially you, Nancy. I'll do you up nice before I kill you. Be sure to wear pretty panties. I still collect them, you know._

* * *

Sirens were coming. Jimmy said, "Come on. Dr. Goodman left her keys in the ignition. We can still get away."

Usagi, now just a naked, shivering girl, still held the corpse of Chibi-Usa. "I will stay, Jimmy-chan. Take Nancy-chan."

"I want to stay with you," Nancy said to Usagi, looking up from the headless, mangled form of Kimberly, wondering what she would tell Kimberly's child. Wondering if she would die this way herself. Wondering _when._

"Go with Jimmy-chan. They will stop looking when they find me."

"But I want to stay."

"Please, go, while there is time."

"Why? That thing is still out there."

"It cannot return tonight. It used the last of its strength on the Grey Lady. Go, Jimmy will not leave without you. And you need to go get the Grey Lady's baby. Take it home. You can make the sitter give it to you, Nancy-chan."

Nancy put her arms around both Usagi and the gory corpse of Chibi-Usa for an eternal moment. Then she ran to the Hummer.

* * *

**Next: Farewell**

* * *

**Send comments to: **[**sewell_thomas@hotmail.com**][1]  
Site: [http://www.geocities.com/oldgringo2001/dream/][3]

   [1]: mailto:sewell_thomas@hotmail.com
   [2]: #synopsis
   [3]: http://www.geocities.com/oldgringo2001/dream/



	6. Default Chapter Title

**Sailor Moon's American Dream**

A **Sailor Moon** fan fiction by **Thomas Sewell **([**sewell_thomas@hotmail.com**][1]) 

_...... = thought quotation_   
...... = the Iturbe-monster speaking directly to the minds of others.

**Chapter 23: Farewell **

THE POLICE had many questions, but twelve hours after they found a naked teenager named Sue Kino weeping over two butchered cadavers, Leah Goodman-Wang descended upon them in righteous legal wrath, and she was not alone. The girl, who had done no more than identify herself and the victims, was released within another hour.

The press was out in force, even with all the coverage of the big UFO story--but when Tsukino Usagi emerged from the building, she wore the awful majesty of a mourning queen. People melted away from her, and from her friends, when she joined them. More than half the cameras and microphones trained on her stopped working, forever; technicians would later find cracked and even powdered parts inside them. One of the last film photographers would find something extraordinary in his darkroom later--but he would never sell the image, and never show it to anyone else, not in the thirty-nine years he had to live afterward. 

* * *

Even Leah and the legal help she'd organized could not get the police to release Chibi-Usa's body for two weeks. Nancy thought Usagi would never go to school the next day, after listening to her weep through the night, but she did. She returned, did her homework, helped with cleaning up after dinner, and went to bed, sleeping soundly. But she didn't talk, not any more than was absolutely necessary.

At night, Nancy hardly slept, until the third night when Usagi got up to pee, as ever. When Usagi came back, she sat down on Nancy's bed, and said, "You don't have to be afraid here. The Grey Lady's wards are holding. He cannot reach us here. Leah explained it to me."

"But she is _dead._"

"That does not matter."

"How can you be sure?"

"If he could attack in here, he would."

"He could just be toying with us."

"No. He likes to do that, but he fears the power of the Grey Lady. He did not attack her until he was sure she was weak. I heard his true thoughts."

"But when we leave--"

"He has to fight me. He fears that I will grow more powerful if he waits too long, but he is too weak now. He will wait. He will wait for the New Moon. He is strongest in the New Moon, when the face of the moon is dark. He thinks I will be weakest then, since my power is drawn from the Moon."

"Is he right?"

"I do not know. Magic works differently in your world. Most of my powers did not seem to be tied to the phases of our moon. But once we had to wait for the full moon to go there . . . I do not know." Usagi hugged Nancy.

"How can you be so strong?" asked Nancy.

"I . . . I won't give up. I may not win. But I must fight him . . . it. No one else in your world can stop it now. Perhaps others will come to help, but your world is hard to get to, the Grey Lady said. This thing will kill again and again, more and more, and I think it will grow stronger and stronger. Maybe I can stop it now. I have to try."

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Yes, inside . . . but I remember Chibi-Usa. She was always braver than me. I will try to fight as bravely as her . . . it is all I have left to do."

"But how can you just go to school?"

"If I stop going, I will give it pleasure. I won't."

* * *

Finals started one week and one day after the police released Usagi.

Sergeant Arteminski, Lieutenant Martini, and many other people who had seen moon angels continued to spend their days talking to psychologists and their nights sleeping in secured wards.

It was a somber graduation. Jimmy was the valedictorion. Usagi finished far below that, but her grades would be good enough to get her into most _American_ colleges.

The next day was Chibi-Usa's funeral.

* * *

The moon was a few nights past full. Nancy rode with Jimmy and Usagi on their after-midnight errand.

It took two hours to reach the spot. They stopped at a windy overlook, and Usagi scattered Chibi-Usa's ashes upon the wind from the sea. They floated up in a silvery spiral, and were lost into the night.

"Why didn't you keep her ashes?" Nancy asked.

"I want to think that she is everywhere," Usagi answered.

Then they went home.

* * *

Nancy woke up to a wonderful, warm summer morning. The light rain that had fallen on their way home had washed all the pollution from the air. It was as nice a day as Nancy had ever experienced. Even the sadness of the days before, the fears of the night, and the obscenity of the murders could not steal the beauty of this moment. Would she try to think of this moment when that _thing_ was killing her, as it had promised?

Nancy saw that Usagi's bed was empty.

She came downstairs, where her mother and stepfather were going through the papers. Her mother was cutting out things for her scrapbooks, and Nancy saw that she was saving all the funeral stories. Nancy got a plate and scooped up some scrambled eggs from the electric skillet, set on "warm" as her mother usually did for weekend and summertime breakfasts. Checking the fridge, she noticed there was plenty of orange juice--something there never was if Usagi had been there first. "Hasn't Sue eaten yet?" Nancy asked.

Her mother looked back at her oddly. Then she said, "No. No, she hasn't . . . Why don't you make up a tray? She's with Jimmy. Take him some food, too; if he waits much longer, he won't have time to eat before we have to start getting him ready to go."

"Go? Oh, yeah." Jimmy had to catch a plane in a few hours. He was going to be a Marine again.

Nancy actually didn't figure it out until she walked into Jimmy's room--without knocking--and found him in bed. With Usagi.

* * *

When they came back from the airport, Usagi spent most of her time with her art supplies. With pastels, she turned out a wonderful picture of Jimmy waving to them, just before entering the plane. "I think you must have some of your father's talent," remarked Nancy, when Usagi gave her the picture."

"Or my mother's. She was a commercial artist, before she married _otousan_."

"And she gave it up?"

"_Otousan_ takes a lot of taking-care-of."

They actually laughed. But then Nancy began to cry. Usagi sat down next to her, and gently took the picture away. "If you get it wet, you will spoil it."

"I know why you did it!"

"You know what?"

"I know why you did it! I know why you made love with Jimmy!"

"I love Jimmy-chan. He is leaving, and I could not--"

"That's not true!"

"You don't think I love Jimmy-chan?"

"That's not what I mean! You love him, but you have always been faithful to your fiance. No matter how much you wanted Jimmy. But you did it because it doesn't matter now."

"Does not matter? It matters to me! I NEVER did this with anyone but Mamo-chan."

"It doesn't matter because you don't think you will ever see your first love . . . you think you're going to die!"

* * *

Jimmy was going to Florida for the next part of his Marine training. There was a long wait in Dallas/Fort Worth; mechanical trouble downed the plane he was supposed to take, and it took hours before the airline found a replacement--an elderly DC-10 hired from a charter company.

The moon was out above the clouds when they reached altitude, and Jimmy watched it for a long time. He realized they would be landing fairly soon, and he decided to visit a restroom while he still could.

Washing up afterward, he saw something strange in the mirror . . . and something gripped his heart in an icy grip.

_Buenos noches, jarhead! I saw you with the Moon Slut . . ._

Jimmy tried to open the door, but his arms lost their feeling. Darkness filled his eyes.

_I haven't decided whether to do your sister before or after your slut . . . after, I think. For dessert. I'll have enough energy from your slut to materialize for a long, long time. I want to . . ._

Jimmy's mind was filled with unbelievably sickening images. Somehow he remembered what the Grey Lady had said about the creature that was doing this . . . _Fight . . . Fight it!_

_Oh, I don't think so, jarhead . . . I won't tell your slut I did you until the last, just before I take off her head. I'll let her wonder . . . but don't worry, jarhead. I wouldn't let you die alone . . ._

The icy grip was released. Jimmy began to breathe again. But he was so weak . . . it took him a long time just to reach the emergency button.

The flight attendants were just pulling him out of the restroom when the pilot slumped over his controls. The plane went into a spin. The co-pilot almost recovered when his heart suddenly stopped.

Jimmy died with 198 others.

* * *

**Chapter 24: The New Moon**

Usagi waited at the bus stop to say goodbye to Nancy, as she had promised. She was wearing a new Sailor Moon costume, under her coat, though she hadn't been able to find boots--she settled for a pair of red pumps, like Rei usually wore.

Finally Nancy came up, Looking at her clothes and her makeup, Usagi asked, "Nancy, are you going on a date?"

"Sort of . . . are you really sure you can fight this thing this time?"

After looking around, Usagi transformed. It was hard to tell at first, but she looked . . . different. Then she took on wings--not white, this time, but colored, with rainbow waves . . . eight colors, like the eight feathers Dr. Goodman had worn on each side of her head. The baton she was holding became a wand with a heart-shaped double guard. And a flower-shaped jewel grew and glowed at the base of her throat. Sailor Moon pointed to the jewel and said, "This is the _ginzuishou_. It was always within me. If nothing else works, I will use its full power. It will take my life, but that power can destroy _worlds._ That thing may take my life, but it will not escape punishment."

"Take me with you," said Nancy.

"You cannot fight it."

"I helped you try to bring back Chibi-Usa. That almost worked."

"It will kill you."

"Maybe. Maybe while it's getting its jollies doing me, you can get a clean shot . . . I don't want to just wait for it any more. What's the point of living a little longer if you don't get it? I want help you to get this thing. I want payback for Chibi and Kim. For Jimmy, too. I just _know_ this thing killed him." 

Sailor Moon fingered the necklace Nancy was wearing. It was made of paper cranes, and did not match the rest of the outfit. She remembered Chibi-Usa making it many of these, but this one had been made with special care. And Chibi-Usa had never told her she had made something for Nancy.

Sailor Moon embraced Nancy in her arms and her great wings.

Nancy felt something flow into her, warm and cool, sweet and bitter, smelling of baby powder and the sting of ozone. Then they rose into the coppery sky.

Eric, upstairs playing yet another video game, caught something, but by the time he reached his window, he thought the distant flying form must be a crane. With nothing to give the figure scale, nearly all the few people below who bothered to look at the sky just thought they saw a pretty bird, while there was light enough to see.

* * *

"Why are we flying, anyway? Do you think it will be there before you figured?"

"No. I just didn't want to take the bus."

Their laughter was heard below, but very few drivers looked up from their traffic grumps.

* * *

The Victorian Hills Mall was open again, although the half-built parking garage had been demolished--what Sailor Moon hadn't pulverized, demolition workers had after the structure was condemned. Since the collapse was unexplained, there were a lot of lawsuits flying over its remains.

The mall lot and the neighborhood around it wasn't overcrowded when Sailor Moon arrived with Nancy. The sky was indigo, and no one noticed them set down. Sailor Moon folded her wings so they looked like a cape, and simply walked into the parking lot with Nancy. Nancy was dressed daringly, with a very minimal miniskirt and a tight knit top that left her midriff showing. She had painted her face heavily. She had made herself into a sign: _Come and get me first, demon-rapist. Don't wait._ The paper-crane necklace didn't fit the ensemble--but Nancy hadn't thought of leaving it behind, once she'd found it again unexpectedly before leaving to join Usagi.

But, of course, Nancy also attracted boys--as did Sailor Moon, perhaps even more so with her long legs peeking from her "cape" as she walked. A clot of them lazing in the parking lot started following them, the bolder ones jogging ahead. "Hey, do you cook as good as you look?" one of them said, thinking himself clever.

They backed off once they saw the Goodman sisters, though--there was nothing that leaped out and said "three witches," but the boys decided there was more action in the Mall, and walked on inside.

Dolores said, "Unless you want to wear those wings all night, could you use this?" She handed Sailor Moon an overcoat--obviously her own; she was almost as tall as Dr. Goodman had been."

"No, thank you. I've never been in this form before. I want to grow used to it. Let's go inside. I'm hungry. Do they have good Chinese food here?"

* * *

Nancy picked at a plate of eggrolls and fried rice, while Sailor Moon ate enormously. The Cantonese booth at the food court wasn't part of a chain; it was a little family business, and almost all the young people working there were relatives. They spoke no Japanese, but they knew about Sailor Moon, and they were fascinated to have a customer who was wearing such a great costume. Sailor Moon talked about the show and her favorite characters, and they never suspected that her "insights" were about real people. She even went through another burlesque of Sailor Moon as she had at Halloween, with Chibi-Moon, making a little crowd of kids laugh. Nancy was about to swallow her heart when it was finished. Sailor moon put a comforting hand on Nancy's shoulder and said, "Remember, this thing lives by killing joy. Perhaps I have just made it a little weaker." Then Sailor Moon started eating again.

* * *

The mall closed at ten that evening, though the last movie wouldn't be finished until just after midnight. The New Moon would be at its nadir a few minutes after eleven. At twenty minutes to eleven,the Goodman sisters got out of their rented van and began preparing, laying out a pentagram. "You stand in the center, dear." said Maude. "We'll stand on the points. You will be protected."

"But there are only three of you."

Maude, who _seemed_ the oldest but was actually the youngest surviving sister, said, "Sailor Moon will take one of the points. It will not be able to harm you while the pentagram protects you."

"But--"

"Stand in the center. You wanted to help. Try to follow our chant, if you will."

A couple of mall security guards in a car spotted the little coven about ten minutes later, and started to drive over to investigate. Sailor Moon glanced their way, and they suddenly had car trouble: a cracked block. This immobilized them; they couldn't conceive of _walking_ seventy-five yards, and were anyway completely absorbed by the problem of their stricken vehicle. The other mall car was coming up about ten minutes after that, but that was when the New Moon was a few minutes from its nadir . . .

After a bit of argument among themselves, three mall guards (the two fat ones whose car had broken down and their supervisor) walked up to the chanting women. "Ladies," called out the supervisor, "I'm afraid--"

"Don't disturb them, rentacop. They have business with me."

Startled, the supervisor turned and saw a short, pathetic looking man dressed casual clothes that hadn't been in fashion for more than a decade--if then. He was fairly young, but already balding and had one of the worst comb-overs the supervisor had ever seen. Putting her hand on her gun, her usual "this can be serious" move, she said to the man, "The only business that goes on here is inside the mall, and it's closed now. We're going to have to ask you to leave. All of you," she finished, turning back and increasing her volume.

She heard the man's voice again--_inside her head._

_Take this business, you dried-up dyke._

The only other perception she had was unbelievable pain, as she was sliced and pulled apart.

"Sailor Moon! Help her!" screamed Nancy, but it was already too late. The dying woman was between Sailor moon and Iturbe.

"She's dead! Kill it!" another voice screamed, and Sailor Moon fired a halation blast which made the thing shimmer, and ended the woman's suffering. Then it winked out.

"Did you get it?" asked Nancy, running toward the fallen woman, not understanding what Sailor Moon had just done, not noticing yet that her body was already beginning to crumble away. But she saw in the next second that the woman was dead. "Can we bring her back?"

Long tentacles came down and snatched Nancy up.

_No, she did not get it, Nancy! Clever, clever, you completed the pentagram! But I have the girl! Want to play catch, moon slut?_

Another tentacle snaked down and sliced through a power line. All the lights around them went out. But Nancy could see that she was high up already, she would never survive a fall from where she was. The thing had half-engulfed her, trapping her arms and legs, but she could see--and be seen. It was using her as a shield.

She looked down, and saw the pentagram glowing, violet-white, almost like the blasts that Chibi Moon had fought with. And there was someone on every point--she saw the Grey Lady!

_Oh, yes, Nancy, the Grey Lady is back. Not for long, I think . . . disappointing, after Kimberly-chan, but I still get to kill her twice . . . Oh, where to begin. Oh, you should't have! You_ remembered, _Nancy! You wore your pretty panties! I'll send a thank-you note to your mother!_

Sailor Moon concentrated. She had kept this in the back of her mind so long, it was difficult to form the whole of it with so little preparation. "Grey Lady, give me the staff!"

Nancy saw Sailor Moon take something from the Grey Lady. She crossed her arms. Now she had something in each hand--as the light grew brighter from the pentagram, she could see that the heart-staff was in one hand, and a sceptor with a silvery skull in the other. She herself changed form. Her wings became mostly black, though still with narrower bands of color. Her costume turned mostly black. And the jewels in her _odongo_ became silvery, ruby-eyed skulls. Nancy realised that she was seeing far more detail than she should be able to from this distance--as if she suddenly had a zoom lens. She had magic--or was this thing allowing her to see for its own reasons?

_Oh, another costume change, moon slut. You've wasted your talents. You should have been a stripper. What a pity . . . after I kill the others, maybe I'll let you live. You'll have to become a stripper. And a hooker. Nancy, your brother was so special. He got it from the moon slut for free._

Sailor Moon had almost finished her transformation. One more thing remained . . . she pulled down at her collar, deepening her neckline. Between her breasts, over her heart, a second _ginzuishou_ bloomed. "Now, hold it!" she shouted to the others.

The thing screamed. Nancy felt some of it, a flash of pain; so did the women in the pentagram. But everyone else in the mall, and the several blocks around, passed out. People felt spasms more than a mile away.

If anyone else had been awake to look on the scene from close up, they would have seen five violet lines of energy reaching up to wrap around and around a writhing, amorphous form. It tried to grow tentacles and pseudopods, but they were sheared off by the twisting lines as fast as they extended. It shot out green balls of fire, but they looped around and struck where they had emerged.

_It hurts. You have me now. But even if you could finish me, you'll kill the girl. What is it going to be, moon slut? You finished off the old dyke quickly enough. While you're thinking, I think I'll start on Nancy. Let's see . . . what do I take off first? Your panties or your head?_

Nancy screamed, "Kill it, Sailor Moon! Kill it! Please!"

Dolores, who was the gentlest of the sisters, said, "We can't hold it forever . . . you have to kill it."

Sailor moon said nothing. She had come here to die this night. She had killed the poor guard. But kill Nancy? Surely she had doomed Jimmy. But Nancy? Too?

"Kill it! Kill it!" cried Nancy again. A tentacle started coming into her mouth, but it crackled with energy and dissolved. "Kill it, Kill it, Kill it!"

Sailor Moon summoned all the power she could. She whispered three last words, "Forgive me, Nancy-chan." Then she loosed the power of both _ginzuishou_.

The thing glowed in a rainbow aura. Ichor began falling like rain, sliming cars and the ground.

But the thing was still there, as the aura faded, and the ichor became a light drizzle.

_Almost, moon slut. But no cigar. Catch._

Nancy felt herself falling, freed from the slimy grip. _No, no, don't let it win!_ She remembered how it had used Chibi's love for Kimberly to destroy them both--and now it would win, because Sailor Moon cared for her.

Sailor Moon had given all she could, and it had not worked. Even with Chibi Moon's _ginzuishou_ and her own, she had not summoned the needed power, though she had no question that she had accepted the price. Except Nancy. She had not been able to kill Nancy along with the thing.

The only thing she could do was save Nancy for a few moments--but she spread her wings to give Nancy-chan those few moments. She was drained; it would take a moment to fly, and to break free from the grip of the sisters who were all shouting for her not to break the pentagram.

Sailor Moon saw her fate: to die, like Chibi-Usa, fighting hopelessly.

She hoped she would die as well.

She flew up to Nancy, and caught her

The thing put on the face of Roberto Iturbe, a thousand times the size of the man in life, and laughed. It was still bound by four lines of fire, but it began to swell. It began to grow long tentacles, most being cut off, but more and growing--they would soon reach them; they were too far from the pentagram.

Nancy looked into the face of Sailor Moon, seeing glowing tears streaming down. Then she twisted out of Sailor moon's grasp, pointed at the thing with both hands, and shouted with all her might, "PUNISH IT FOR CHIBI MOON!" 

Then the face showed fear, and distorted wildly. A stream of violet bolts rose up, burning it in halves, quarters, eighths, and then unerringly seeking out and consuming the smaller and smaller pieces. An airline pilot who'd flown a Nighthawk over Baghdad said whatever it was looked ten times as bright. The power grid for half the Southbay went out during the half-minute or so the violet fire blossomed.

Sailor Moon glided down, and landed on her point of the Pentagram.

Then Nancy glided down, and landed in the center of the pentagram. It ceased to glow a moment later. 

The Grey Lady said: "Let me be the first to greet the New Moon."

**Chapter 25: The End of the Dream **

NANCY HEARD SOMEONE at the door. She looked up from the romance novel she was reading and was about to say something to Usagi, but she saw that Usagi had fallen asleep, her face resting on the pages of an artbook. <_At least she doesn't snore when she sleeps like this,_ thought Nancy. But then she remembered Chibi-Usa saying, "_Okasan_ makes a lot of noise." After blotting the tears away, she went downstairs to see who had come.

Her mother and her stepfather were already talking to the visitors--it was Dr. Goodman and all three of her sisters, and some others--_their_ children, and perhaps a grandchild or two. And a funny-looking little man . . . a _very_ little man, a midget. Nancy didn't know quite what to say first or whom to speak with. The little man looked back at her, and she was _sure _he must be picturing her naked . . .

Dr. Goodman smacked the little man on the top of his head, and said, "This is my grandfather, Dr. Alvarson, Nancy."

The little man held up a hand, and Nancy shook it. "I am pleased to meet you at last. My family has told me about you. More than you think."

"Really?" _Another mind reader?_ Nancy shrugged.

"I'm sorry to rush in on you you, but we really have to be on time for our little surprise for U--for _Sue._ Would you go fetch her?"

The little man did not speak loudly, but his words had great weight for Nancy, almost like--_almost like Usagi when she orders someone to do something. And he nearly called her_ Usagi_ just now . . ._ "All right, I'll get her." Nancy started up the stairs, and heard Dr. Goodman call out,"Be sure to bring your coats, dear. It's chilly out."

They all went wherever they were going in a decidedly mundane conveyance, a big, clunky, beat-up van that Dr. Goodman drove. "It's a rental. Best I could could come up with on short notice."

Usagi smiled faintly, and squeezed Nancy's hand.

Nancy asked, "What's this all about?"

The little man answered. "It is time for Sailor Moon to return to her own world. I can open a gate for her tonight. But we must hurry. It can only be done in one place, and in a small window in time. Only for a few moments in the time of the New Moon."

"Oh . . . I'm glad for you, Usagi."

"Thank you. I will miss you . . ." Usagi turned to the little man. "Will I ever be able to return here?"

"Perhaps, but not for some time . . . I have made no divination, but I feel that you will return someday." He pulled cards from a pocket, and handed one to Nancy, and one to Usagi. "You can send mail, if you like. It will take a while to get through, but if you post it to our local branch office, it will get through."

Nancy looked at the card the old man had given her. It read: 

THE GREY COMPANY

And it gave an address in Maryland. Nancy glanced at Usagi's card and saw that its address was printed in Japanese.

Where they were going turned out to be a Caltrain station. They piled out of the van, went into the station, and walked very far back on the platform--and took the steps down from it. They had to undo a chain to do that. A man and a woman in uniforms, station guards, started coming toward them, but then the little man made a slight gesture. The guards stopped, looked for a few moments, and then turned around and began walking away, talking to each other.

"Did you make us invisible?" Nancy asked him.

"No, I just suggested that they didn't want to notice us. They really don't; it would mean a lot of paperwork, and their shifts are almost over."

They walked to a Caltrain passenger car parked on a siding. It was locked up with more chains and covered with official-looking stuff. The little man made another slight gesture, and all of that faded away. When she climbed aboard the car, all she could see through the windows was gray fog, and it seemed to be day--though through the door she had just come through, she could see the station, lit up the last trains of the night. Dr. Goodman closed the door behind her, the last aboard. The noises from outside were gone--completely.

"We could use your help, dear, said Dr. Goodman as she came up to "This is a difficult spell."

"I can't do magic. Not your kind."

"You don't know the art yet, but you can certainly help us."

The little man said, "You are a virgin. That could help. Hard to find these days." He gave Nancy an infinitely lecherous look while she stripped down to her skivvies for her transformation (to save her other clothes), and yet somehow conveyed that he would never harm her. Then he took one of her hands, and Dr. Goodman took the other. They formed a circle around Sailor Moon, who had taken on her nude angel form. The little old man and the four sisters chanted in a strange language. Nancy followed along, simply singing "Dah-dah-dah" to the same melody. Then Sailor Moon was no longer there . . .

* * *

"MA'AM? MA'AM?"

A man in uniform was speaking to Usagi. A policeman.

"Yes? What?"

"This is the University Station."

"Oh . . . I'm sorry, I must have fallen asleep." Usagi remembered. He was commuting himself, and had sat down next to her since she got on the train in San Francisco. "Thank you."

"I thought you'd never wake up. Hurry up. I think the train is about to leave."

"Thank you, thank you." Usagi rushed to the exit. The train started moving away only moments after she stepped down onto the platform.

Usagi watched the train move away until it was a tiny speck. _What a dream,_ she thought. _So awful--and yet wonderful._ Jimmy; Nancy; the lady in gray; seeing Chibi-Usa again, almost a young woman . . . she shuddered at the terrible fate of Chibi-Usa. But it was only a dream . . . "Only a dream."

"Excuse me?"

It was a guard, one of a pair, a man and a woman. They had come up to her while she was remembering the dream, and heard her talk to herself.

"Oh, nothing. It is silly. I fell asleep on the train, and I had a dream. A very strange dream . . . very strange." She felt queezy. "Excuse, can I use bathroom? I think I am a little sick."

They took her to the restroom, unlocked it for her, and the woman guard went in with her. Usagi threw up. Then the guards took her to a drinking fountain. She drank some water, and began to feel better. The guards were concerned. She decided to call Mamoru, to see if he could pick her up. He was very surprised to hear that she was at the train station, but he said he would come.

Waiting for Mamoru, Usagi explained to the guards who Mamoru was. When the man guard moved off to check on something else, Usagi told the woman guard about her trouble at school. "I worked hard, but I just did not learn fast enough. Especially English."

"Really? You're English sounds pretty good to me."

"Well, I have--"

"You've what?"

"I have been practicing . . ." Usagi opened her schoolbag. There it was, the notice she hadn't wanted to show her parents--and something else. A little card, taped to the notice. She pulled it off. It read:

THE GREY COMPANY

The rest was in Japanese, and gave an address in Hokkaido.

Usagi began to cry. It had not been a dream. Chibi-Usa was really gone . . .

The other guard came back. Usagi knew they might call the regular police any minute, but she could not do much more than cry until Mamo-chan came. He shooed the guards away and took her to his old car, even older than Jimmy-chan's had been, and drove her back to his tiny apartment, a place in Ravenswood, a poor, tough town north of the train tracks, but close to Stanford.

Mamo-chan had many questions, but the only answer Usagi gave him that night was not in words. They made love, again, and again, until Usagi slept so soundly that Mamoru could not rouse her.

* * *

Nancy was standing on the Caltrain platform amid the four Goodman sisters, back in normal form, dressed as she had been before. The little man was not there. She looked down the platform at the siding where she had gotten onto the lone Caltrain car, but the siding was empty. Nancy looked around at the sisters, who were all looking at her and smiling, a little sadly. Then Dr. Goodman said, "She's where she belongs now, Nancy. Come. Let's go back to your home."

* * *

Usagi woke up, finally, when the sun shown onto her face. She sat up, taking in the tiny, worn-out place that Mamo-chan had made his home for now.

Mamoru was gone.

Usagi got up, pulling a sheet around her even though she was alone, and walked to the table. There was a note. It read: "I must go now. I will return after 3:00 and take you back home. I have already called your family, but you should call them, too. Love, Mamoru."

Usagi showered, and put on the uniform she had worn, thinking it would probably be the last time she wore this or any other school uniform. She found a pen, and on the back of the note Mamoru had written, wrote her own note. Then she put it down on the table, took off her ring, and put it on the top of the note. She left the place quietly, checking to be sure the door locked.

Usagi decided to walk to the Caltrain station, figuring she would not have enough money to get home if she took a bus. Along the way, a boy tried to sell her drugs. She just said "no." A little while later, a man pulled up in a car, showed her a gun, and told her to get in. She turned him into dust. No one seemed to notice. Usagi noticed a bag of fast food on the seat and took it. She didn't think of taking the car, but someone else soon did.

**To Be Continued in Book 2: _Under Black Wings_**

* * *

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